Manufacturing and agriculture play an outsized role in Wisconsin’s economy, making exports essential, the Wisconsin Policy Forum’s April 2025 report found. Yet since the mid-2010s, the value of those exports has fallen both statewide and in the Milwaukee area, the top exporting region in Wisconsin. Now, newly enacted U.S. tariffs are triggering retaliatory actions by some major trading partners, making 2025 a bumpy ride so far for many Wisconsin businesses and farmers.
Wisconsin’s economy depends heavily on manufacturing. With 18.6% of its private sector jobs concentrated in that sector as of 2023, the state ranked second nationally in 2022 for manufacturing employment. Agriculture is another cornerstone of the state’s economy, with the value of our agricultural sales ranking 10th nationally as of 2022.
Manufacturers and farmers, in turn, depend on access to export markets, and many also import materials and parts used in their operations from other countries. This means that Wisconsin businesses and residents have a lot to gain or lose from trade policy decisions made at the federal level.
Click here to read the full report.
