WED AM News: WEDC leader warns of lasting impacts from tariff uncertainty in WI; WPF report says local officials have struck strong data center deals

September 30, 2026

— The head of WEDC warned tariff-related uncertainty will have “lasting and fairly negative” effects on the state economy, noting Wisconsin’s dependence on trade with Canada.

John Miller, secretary and CEO of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., yesterday addressed members of the state agency’s board of directors.

His comments followed President Donald Trump enacting new import restrictions on about $1 billion worth of Canadian goods, alleging discrimination against U.S. products by its northern neighbor. Canada earlier this month announced it would match U.S. Section 338 tariffs “dollar for dollar” on about $27.6 billion worth of goods.

Miller yesterday highlighted his recent remarks to the Great Lakes Economic Development Council in Milwaukee, focusing on the importance of economic relationships between Great Lakes states and Canadian provinces even amid federal trade clashes.

“It was the Canadians after the event that rushed up to me with their cards out wanting to continue conversations about how we can better collaborate at the state and provincial level, so that was really encouraging,” Miller said.

Still, he said he doesn’t want to downplay the significance of the tariffs enacted by the United States and Canada in the latest escalation in trade tensions, noting Canada remains Wisconsin’s top trading partner by far.

“The absence of any certainty in the tariff landscape is going to have lasting and fairly negative effects on many of our industries and also a lot of our consumers,” Miller said yesterday. “And not only the industries that produce in Wisconsin that ship abroad, but of course a lot of our companies in Wisconsin use Canadian suppliers.”

Meanwhile, agency staff are exploring the possibility of experimenting with “ratcheting up” part of WEDC’s investment portfolio to be more aggressive. That’s according to WEDC Vice President of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Shayna Hetzel, who yesterday said that could include taking “earlier, riskier bets” with the investments the agency makes.

“More to come over the next few months and year as we explore what’s next,” Hetzel said.

Yesterday’s board meeting included a look at the state’s Technology Development Loan program, which provides venture debt financing for qualifying early-stage startups.

Between fiscal years 2016 and 2022, the program put much of its support behind recipients in the state’s southern portion, with 64% of awards going to recipients in Dane County. Other counties in southeastern Wisconsin made up much of the award pool, including Milwaukee County with 15%, Waukesha County with 7% and Washington County with 2%.

Ed Roeger, senior director of strategic performance for WEDC, noted TDL program recipients “track closely” with the state’s venture capital ecosystem, leading to the concentration of recipients in these areas.

Similarly, recipients were also clustered in manufacturing, information technology and professional, scientific and technical services sectors, with a focus on healthcare and IT markets, according to Roeger’s presentation.

“That kind of checked in some ways for us that okay, the program does look like it is supporting the overall VC space out there, and looks pretty strong within that,” he said yesterday.

During the study period, the TDL program provided more grant support for businesses in the later stages of development, with more grants of around $300,000 going to companies that are commercializing and launching or growing and expanding.

By comparison, fewer grants of about $160,000 on average went to earlier-stage businesses in the product development stage.

Watch the video.

— A new Wisconsin Policy Forum report argues local officials that struck deals with data centers have generally negotiated favorable terms for their communities.

But officials who have used tax incentives to draw data center developers face challenges reaping potential gains for their property tax base.

WPF’s report looks at three completed deals involving Port Washington, Mount Pleasant and Beaver Dam and two aborted agreements involving Janesville and DeForest.

The authors argue all five municipalities negotiated deals or preliminary agreements to put their communities on stronger financial footing, including setting guaranteed valuations for data center sites that would boost communities’ tax base and avoiding borrowing to subsidize data center investment.

“There are also still risks associated with data center development, but they come with billions of dollars in potential investment, downward pressure on property taxes later on, and other benefits such as the proposed remediation of a former manufacturing plant site in Janesville,” the authors write.

State levy limits may be the “biggest challenge” for local officials and taxpayers considering a data center.

Current law restricts the amount communities can increase their property tax levy by the share of new homes and commercial buildings that were constructed in the community in the previous year.

In communities that have established tax increment financing districts to finance their data centers, like Port Washington and Beaver Dam, officials can raise their property tax levy based on the new value created by data centers, but cannot tax the new valuation of the data center until the TID closes.

That means other properties bear the cost of the higher levy until that TID closes, or communities miss out on their window to increase their levy entirely.

“With a good development agreement and project, data center TIDs could close earlier. But if they do not, local officials could be left with a difficult choice – either raise taxes on existing property owners by more than is needed in the short term or miss out permanently on revenue that the community may need later on,” the report notes.

The report suggests changing state law so that local officials can raise operating levies once a TID has closed.

It also notes that the vast increase in property value created by data centers could make it difficult for communities to increase their levies in the future, since subsequent net new construction will be proportionately much smaller than the value created by data centers.

The report also offers a favorable analysis of the state’s sales tax and use exemption for data centers, saying it is comparable to incentives offered to other manufacturers and that the state will recoup a “significant portion” of the forfeited tax revenue through income and sales taxes from construction workers, corporate tax income and tax revenue from utilities serving the data centers.

Wisconsin residents remain leery of data centers despite their purported economic benefits, with a Marquette Law School Poll finding 78% of registered voters feel the facilities’ costs outweigh their benefits.

More Wisconsin communities have now rejected the facilities than accepted them, and many communities, including some that did not have a data center proposal on hand, have passed moratoriums to block their construction.

The report says that though this allows officials and the public to learn more about data centers, it could lead communities to miss out on the current data center boom.

Read the full report here.

— GOP gubernatorial candidate Tom Tiffany has vowed to lower the profit that investor-owned utilities are able to make when they seek rate increases from the Public Service Commission.

Tiffany said it was part of an effort to lower costs for consumers that includes appointing members of the PSC who put “affordability and reliability first.” He also again vowed to require a one-year cooling-off period before commissioners could go to work for an investor-owned utility or transmission company.

“Wisconsin needs an energy policy that puts the people paying the bills first,” Tiffany said.

The new proposal was part of a broader plan Tiffany touted yesterday that included several policies he’s supported in the past, including a greater reliance on nuclear power.

Under state law, investor-owned utilities are guaranteed the opportunity to turn a profit, which is called a return on equity. It is factored into rate cases that go before the PSC.

As part of a look at rate hikes over the past decade, WisPolitics reported in December that the PSC from 2021-26 with a majority of members appointed by Dem Gov. Tony Evers had approved an average return on equity of 9.9%, which was above the national average of 9.68%.

Between 2012-17 with a majority of PSC members appointed by GOP Gov. Scott Walker, the average return on equity was 10.3%, which was higher than the national average of 9.78% at the time.

Dem David Crowley two weeks ago called for a two-year cooling-off period before energy companies could hire former PSC members or lawmakers who oversee utility regulation as part of an anti-corruption package. His platform also calls for a responsible expansion of nuclear energy.

In a statement yesterday, Crowley’s campaign said he’d appoint PSC commissioners who “put ratepayers first.”

“Congressman Tom Tiffany is talking tough now, but he voted to slash funding for the watchdog that fights rate hikes and voted for a bill that would raise electric rates,” campaign spokesperson Alexandra Gross said. “He’s already shown whose side he’s on, and it isn’t Wisconsin families.”

While on the Joint Finance Committee in 2015, Tiffany voted with fellow Republicans to cut state funding for staff at the Citizen Utility Board, which advocates for lower electricity rates for residents.

— The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has announced $1.8 million in grants for groups providing suicide prevention services in Wisconsin, part of a $112 million round of funding.

The federal agency yesterday rolled out the grants for 191 community organizations around the country. The funding comes from the Staff Sergeant Parker Gordon Fox Suicide Prevention Grant Program and will be available at the start of fiscal year 2027.

Recipients include nonprofits, state and local governments, federally recognized tribes and other groups that have “demonstrated a capacity” to serve military veterans.

Two of the recipients are focused only on Wisconsin. The Center for Veterans Issues, which serves all counties in the state, is getting $375,000. And Westcare Wisconsin Inc., which serves 11 counties across the state, is getting $750,000 in grant funding.

Meanwhile, Transitional Living Services is receiving $634,022, supporting its efforts to help veterans in both Illinois and Wisconsin.

Jim McLain, executive director of the Milwaukee VA Medical Center, says community groups “play a vital role” in providing support to veterans in the state.

“These grants provide Veterans with life-saving support and ensure they have access to the care and resources they deserve right here in our community,” he said.

See the release.

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ECONOMY

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EDUCATION