New Report Looks at Wisconsin's Import Economy

Monday, May 19th, 2025 -- 10:00 AM

(Joe Schulz, Wisconsin Public Radio) Wisconsin customers and businesses purchased $38.9 billion worth of imported goods last year, but recent increases in U.S. tariffs have raised concerns about inflation, decreased availability of products and unintended effects to state manufacturing.

According to Joe Schulz with the Wisconsin Public Radio, that’s according to a new report from the Wisconsin Policy Forum looking at Wisconsin’s import economy.

Since 2016, the inflation-adjusted value of the state’s imports has grown by 32.4 percent. The goods purchased from abroad range from T-shirts and furniture to industrial machinery and medical equipment.

Tyler Byrnes, the report’s author, said Wisconsin’s imports highlight just how interconnected the global economy is. “You need an imported product to run your factory, so you can make things for exports,” Byrnes said. “Really, the import economy drives the export economy.”

Industrial and electrical machinery account for roughly one-third of Wisconsin’s total imports, with most industrial machinery being purchased by businesses in agriculture, construction and manufacturing, the report says.

State businesses also import billions of dollars worth of raw materials. The state’s health care sector also relies on imports. Wisconsin last year imported $4.7 billion worth of pharmaceutical products, both prescription and non-prescription drugs, and $2.4 billion worth of medical and scientific equipment, according to the report.

Wisconsin consumers also spent more than $3.1 billion on vehicles and parts, $1.6 billion on plastic products, $0.9 billion on furniture and bedding, and $0.8 billion on knit clothing, according to the forum.

From 2018 to 2024, the value of Wisconsin’s imports from China have fallen by 37.3 percent, according to the report. That drop can be attributed, at least in part, to U.S. tariffs imposed in 2018 against some Chinese imports, as well as a broader shift in policymakers’ views toward that country, the report states.

At the same time, some Chinese firms have shifted production to other southeast Asian countries, like Vietnam, to avoid U.S. tariffs. Since 2018, Wisconsin’s imports from Vietnam have more than doubled from $1.2 billion to $2.7 billion in 2024, according to report data.

“If you have a laptop factory that had been in China … and you do the final assembly in a country that doesn’t have tariffs, then you’re avoiding those costs,” Byrnes said. “It could be difficult to track where these goods come from.”

Behind China, Canada ranks as Wisconsin’s second largest source of imported goods, accounting for $6.3 billion last year, the study says. Some of the products that come from Canada include paper, chemicals and processed foods.

Imports from Mexico have grown dramatically since 2018, from $3.5 billion to $5.9 billion last year. Vehicles and vehicle parts are by far the largest category of state imports from Mexico, accounting for $2.4 billion in 2024.

If combined, the 27 countries that make up the European Union would be the state’s top import source, accounting for $10.2 billion last year, according to the forum.

“You were to add up Canada, Mexico and the EU, that’s the vast majority of our imports,” Byrnes said. “These are long-term trade partners.”

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