MADISON, Wis. — Today, new reporting revealed that Trump’s tariffs are forcing Wisconsinites to pay more for groceries and everyday essentials, putting a strain on middle class households across the state. Republicans like Tom Tiffany, Derrick Van Orden, and Bryan Steil continue to praise the very tariffs that are driving up costs for their own constituents, and even added to the crisis by ending ACA funding.
WPR: Trump campaigned on lowering prices, but many Wisconsinites still feel pinched
By: Joe Schultz | 1/22/26
In his 2024 campaign to return to the White House, Donald Trump stood in front of a crowd in Green Bay in October wearing a bright orange work vest, pledging that if he won the presidency again, he would reduce prices and end inflation.
“I will make America affordable again. We’re going to make it affordable,” Trump said as the crowd erupted with cheers. “They call it groceries — bacon, lettuce, tomatoes. Everything is so much higher than it ever was, and we’re going to bring that down.”
But more than a year later, some Wisconsin consumers say that relief hasn’t materialized.
This week marks one year since President Donald Trump was sworn in for his second term. From immigration, to the federal workforce, to the economy, to education, the last year reshaped the country. This week, WPR is taking a look at how the administration’s policies are impacting Wisconsin so far.
On an evening in early January outside of a Pick ‘n Save grocery store in Oshkosh, shoppers who spoke with WPR said they believed the cost of living, from groceries to rent, was still too high.
Oshkosh resident Randy Dillon, a 67-year-old who plans to retire later this year, said he believes household costs are “getting out of control.”
“The things I used to see on sale ain’t there no more,” he said. “I don’t know who to blame. It’s not getting easier for people like me that are about to be on a fixed income.”
Food prices have continued to climb since Trump returned to office.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, they were 3.1 percent higher in December 2025 than they were in the final month of 2024. And prices overall rose 2.7 percent from December 2024 to the same month in 2025.
Experts and business leaders say one reason prices have remained elevated is the president’s aggressive use of tariffs in 2025. Trump alluded to his plans to impose an array of tariffs during a campaign stop in Milwaukee in 2024.
“The most beautiful word in the entire dictionary, you know what it is? It’s tariff,” Trump said. “You’re gonna become so rich with the word tariff.”
The administration has said tariffs are meant to help bolster domestic manufacturing and increase federal revenue. Tariffs are taxes paid by businesses importing goods or raw materials, and those costs are often passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices.
Dale Kooyenga, president of the Metro Milwaukee Association of Commerce, said businesses have been able to adjust to tariffs but consumers are still feeling the effects.
“You see this in food prices, for example,” he said. “There’s no doubt that there’s an economic hit that’s related to the tariffs.”
Tariffs have played a role in rising prices
As of November, consumers faced an overall average tariff rate of 16.8 percent, the highest since 1935, according to the Budget Lab at Yale, a policy research center.
John Ricco, associate director of policy analysis at the Budget Lab, said as Trump’s tariffs fully phase in the associated rise in costs will translate to an average household loss of purchasing power between $1,700 and $1,300.
The products expected to be the most impacted include apparel and motor vehicles, as well as products with high metal content like electrical equipment and computers, according to the Budget Lab. The research center estimated that food prices would rise by 1.2 percent in the short run and stay 1 percent higher in the long run due to Trump’s tariffs.
In November, Trump signed an executive order removing the tax from a range of foods, like coffee, bananas and beef.
“The fact that the administration has explicitly exempted certain products from the tariff regime in order to bring prices down is perhaps evidence that policymakers believe that tariffs do indeed raise prices,” Ricco said. “In terms of an affordability agenda, our research definitely points to the fact that this is a cost on American households.”
He also said the full impact has not yet been felt by consumers, estimating that roughly half of the impact of tariffs was felt by the end of 2025.
Wisconsin consumers shift spending due to high costs
Though the full impact may not have fully hit yet, some Wisconsin consumers have shifted their purchasing habits in the face of higher costs.
Abigail Godkin, an Oshkosh resident, said it’s hard to keep up with rising prices even though she’s working more. She said she’s had to cut back on non-essential spending, like going out to eat.
“I definitely don’t treat myself to things as much just to make sure we have groceries instead,” she said. “It’s more important that way. But, I mean, it just sucks that you have to make that choice.”
Cameron Uecker, a nurse and single father from Oshkosh, said rising costs have meant fewer outings with his son, whether that’s restaurants or arcades. He said he doesn’t think the president has followed through on his campaign promises to bring costs down.
“I definitely feel like his focus is on the wrong things,” he said. “He promises a lot of stuff, but he hasn’t delivered any of it.”
Some manufacturers face higher costs, others see benefits from tariffs
Tariffs have also affected Wisconsin manufacturers, especially those importing raw materials or equipment.
A recent survey of more than 400 Wisconsin manufacturers found 72 percent say tariffs affect them. More than half cited cost increases as the biggest impact, and about a third pointed to uncertainty and difficulty planning.
Buckley Brinkman is executive director for the nonprofit Wisconsin Center for Manufacturing and Productivity, the group that conducted the survey. He said tariffs forced some manufacturers to delay major investments.
For example, he said manufacturers typically see anywhere from a six to 12 month lead time if they’re purchasing a piece of equipment from overseas. They plan around a certain cost and the return on investment they’ll receive for that equipment.
“Now all of a sudden, if there’s a 25 to 50 percent tariff on that piece of equipment, your return has just fallen by a third,” he said. “Planning for those kinds of fluctuations makes it really difficult to make those longer term investments.”
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While Trump has argued tariffs would revitalize manufacturing, Wisconsin’s manufacturing jobs declined slightly from January to November 2025, from about 462,500 to 462,100.
Small businesses also face tariff impacts
Outside of manufacturing, some small businesses have felt the pinch of higher import costs. Matt Raboin, co-owner of Brick Cider in Mount Horeb, launched a cream liqueur last year packaged in a classic glass milk jug.
He said he had to import the milk jugs from a supplier in China because the domestic suppliers required him to order large quantities he wouldn’t have been able to store.
Raboin was all set to order the jugs for around $2 each. But then the Trump administration slapped a 145 percent tariff on Chinese goods, and the order no longer penciled out.
He said he eventually placed the order and ended up paying about a 50 percent tariff on the bottles.
“It adds like $1 a bottle that we end up having to pass on to the consumer because it’s just like an added cost that we have to factor into production,” he said. “It still stinks, but we can do it.”
Crop farmers faced a tough economy in 2025
Wisconsin’s agriculture industry has also been affected by trade tensions.
Chad Hart, an agricultural economist at Iowa State University, said 2025 was a rough year for many crop farmers because of higher production costs, lower crop prices and trade disruptions.
China, which purchased around half of all U.S. soybean exports in 2024, had been boycotting U.S. soybeans for much of the year in response to Trump’s tariffs. That’s as strong harvests for corn and soybeans helped to drive crop prices down, and farmers faced high input costs.
China and the United States did reach a trade agreement in the fall to restore soybean exports. But Hart said China’s soybean purchases in 2025 weren’t as high as they normally would be because it turned to Brazil and other countries for suppliers.
“As we look further down the line for the 2026 and 2027 crops, they’re supposed to purchase a more normal complement,” he said. “It’s going to take time for those sales to truly have an impact for farmers here in the Midwest.”
