What Is Trump And His Idiotic Trade War Doing To Wisconsin Workers?

A few days ago I read something about Wisconsin cranberry farmers facing a very bad year because of Trump's trade war. Retaliation is a bitch. Maine is the top cranberry producer in the U.S.There are 20 counties across the state that grow cranberries. Wood, Jackson, Monroe and Juneau are the top producers. All of them are losing jobs now. They all voted for Señor Job Producer in 2016:

• Wood- 57.0% to 37.7%
• Jackson- 53.3% to 41.5%
• Juneau- 61.2% to 39.1%
• Monroe- 58.5% to 36.0%

Trump won the state's 10 electoral votes 1,409,467 (47.9%) to 1,382,210 (46.9%). So close. I bet Hillary wouldn't have started any trade wars. Cranberries are bad enough but that's not the only sector in Wisconsin suffering under Trump's brilliant trade strategy. Harley Davidson is the one everyone is talking about. Milwaukee is where Harley has it's corporate headquarters and the bikes are made in Ryan's district. Aluminum boats are another important business in Wisconsin in trouble.

Boat manufacturers say the escalating trade dispute with China took another bad turn this week that could scuttle sales of aluminum boats popular in Wisconsin.

In the billions of dollars of tariffs that Trump’s administration has proposed on Chinese goods, a new tariff of 167 percent on the type of aluminum used for recreational boats would bring the total tariff on that product to at least 210 percent.

“This is terrible news for marine manufacturers as aluminum boats represent 44 percent of new boat sales each year and account for $3 billion in retail sales,” Thom Dammrich, president of the Chicago-based National Marine Manufacturers, said Wednesday.

“These tariffs are disrupting the global aluminum market and increasing the cost of raw materials for U.S. manufacturers,” Dammrich said.

In addition, roughly 300 component parts commonly used in recreational boats are now subject to a 25 percent tariff following a recent announcement of Section 301 tariffs on $50 billion worth of Chinese products.

Canada, the European Union and Mexico-- which account for 69 percent of annual U.S. boat exports-- have announced retaliatory tariffs on boats of 10 percent, 25 percent and 15 percent respectively.

“In an attempt to punish China, the administration is wreaking havoc on the global economy. These harmful policies will have costly effects across American industries, but few to none are being singled out quite like the U.S. recreational boating industry,” Dammrich said.

The U.S. recreational marine industry supports 650,000 jobs and last year had $37 billion in sales.

Year after year, Wisconsin ranks in the top 10 states in sales of new powerboats, engines and accessories. Wisconsin also is home to Mercury Marine and Evinrude, two of the largest manufacturers of outboard engines.

Many U.S. boat makers use domestic aluminum, but the tariffs on Chinese material will push up the prices globally, according to Dammrich.

If rising aluminum and steel prices harm powerboat sales, by pricing some consumers out of the market, it’s going to send a wave across the boating industry, he said.

“If you don’t sell as many boats, then you don’t sell as many engines, electronics and everything else."

Yesterday, CNN reported that "Harley-Davidson's move is some of the most direct evidence yet that tit-for-tat trade fights between the United States and other countries have consequences for American companies. Harley-Davidson said it stood to lose as much as $100 million a year. 'Increasing international production to alleviate the EU tariff burden is not the company's preference, but represents the only sustainable option,' Harley-Davidson said in a regulatory filing on Monday... Europe is its second-largest market behind the United States. In 2017, nearly 40,000 European customers bought new Harleys, compared with about 148,000 in the United States."

After the idiot's tweet this morning, the Washington Post reported that he threatened Harley-Davidson "with severe taxes and predicted a public revolt that he said would eventually put the 115-year-old firm out of business, blasting the Wisconsin company for a plan to move some operations outside the United States as a way to avoid getting caught in the middle of an escalating trade war."

Harley Davidson's new SEC filing warns of the "tremendous cost increase" from EU tariffs that will set the company back $100 million a year-- and is causing the company to move production overseas from the U.S. Señor Job Producer strikes again! Paul Ryan may be IS a rubber stamp for Trump no matter what it does to his constituents... but Randy Bryce is the polar opposite. Today he warned people in the district to "Take cover, Donald Trump is descending on Wisconsin's First Congressional District this Friday. But while working people all across the state have been working harder than ever with less and less to show for it, Trump isn't coming to provide any relief from the damage his agenda has caused. Donald Trump is coming to 'celebrate' the groundbreaking for the Foxconn Technology Group manufacturing plant in Mount Pleasant and attend a fundraiser in his honor, where the least expensive ticket is more than most folks make in a 2-week pay period. We may have repealed Paul Ryan, but Wisconsin Republicans are still holding on strong... Foxconn, a multinational corporation, is notorious for human rights abuses. In their short time in Wisconsin, they're already responsible for taking people's houses through eminent domain to build their new factory while seeking, and receiving, exemptions to the environmental regulations that protect our state. One thing is clear from this visit: Donald Trump doesn't give a crap about working people. WI-01 deserves better."

You can be sure that Bryce will fight for working people because he is a working person-- and that won't stop when he gets to Congress. "Trump promised to keep U.S. jobs in America," Randy told us this morning. "Not only is he failing horribly (ask Carrier) but he is being successful at turning our allies against us. If China dumping steel onto our shores is the problem, let's fix that instead of sending jobs overseas. It's the direct opposite of where we need to go. We need to protect our friends, not turn them into adversaries. I'm looking forward to getting elected so that we can once again have a House of Representatives that will be part of the checks and balances that has been a part of our nation's safeguard since its inception. Our Founders foresaw someone like Trump as a possibility. Unfortunately they didn't predict a Congress that would put party over people while sitting on their hands. American workers deserve legislation demanding that products we use are made here."