http://newiprogressive.com/images/stories/S5/trump-donald_072622-s448.pngWhen he was president, Trump gave tax incentives to companies to ship jobs overseas, and Wisconsin lost over 80,000 jobs during his term.

MILWAUKEE - This morning, five days before Election Day, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporting shows that Milwaukee business owners are concerned about Donald Trump’s Project 2025 plans to implement tariffs that would drastically increase prices for middle-class families and small businesses.

When he was president, Trump gave tax incentives to companies to ship jobs overseas, and Wisconsin lost over 80,000 jobs during his term. Trump’s plans for a second term risk even more Wisconsin jobs being sent overseas.

Vice President Kamala Harris, on the other hand, has a plan to support small businesses – including by expanding the startup expense deduction for small businesses from $5,000 to $50,000 to help meet the needs faced by American entrepreneurs when starting a business.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Businesses are worried about higher tariffs, like taxes, under Trump presidency

[Rick Barrett, 10/31/24]

Excerpts below:

• If Donald Trump wins the election, Fyxation Bicycles of Milwaukee could face a 60% tariff on the bikes it imports from China, a rate increase that would likely hurt sales.

• Even a 20% tariff increase could cost a typical middle-class household more than $2,600 in higher prices, according to the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

• Trump established nearly $80 billion worth of tariffs on thousands of products in 2018 and 2019, which was effectively one of the largest tax increases in decades, according to the nonpartisan Tax Foundation, in Washington, D.C.

• To avoid steep tariffs, many manufacturers have moved production from China to other Asian countries like Vietnam. They’ve also moved work to Mexico, where labor costs are lower than in China, and to the U.S., where higher costs are offset by advantages such as proximity to the marketplace.

• American consumers could lose billions of dollars in spending power if tariffs are raised on common household products like microwaves and clothing from China, according to the National Retail Federation.