September 15, 2026

Tariffs cost Wisconsin about $5.5B, or $2,179 per household, report says

MADISON, Wis. — A new report details how MAGA Congressman Tom Tiffany and Donald Trump’s non-stop tariff taxes have cost the average Wisconsin family nearly $2,200 since January 2025. In Washington, Tiffany has voted to protect every single one of Trump’s tariffs, driving up costs on working Wisconsinites on everything from household goods to shoes to groceries.

Read excerpts from the report below:

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Tariffs cost Wisconsin about $5.5B, or $2,179 per household, report says

By: Blaise Mesa

• Tariffs have cost Wisconsin an estimated $5.5 billion since January 2025, the 19th-highest total in the country, according to a report by the National Taxpayers Union Foundation.

• That amounts to about $2,179 per Wisconsin household, the report says. The import category most affected by tariffs in Wisconsin is machinery and parts, with an estimated $525 million in additional tariffs paid since January 2025 at an average rate of 18.1%. That category is broad and includes materials used to build things, everything from lawnmowers to motorcycles to appliances.

• Tariffs are taxes imposed by one country on goods imported from another country, with the costs often falling on consumers in the country imposing the tariffs, according to the Tax Foundation. President Donald Trump has implemented a wide range of tariffs during his second term, including recent tariffs imposed on some select imports from Canada, USA TODAY reported.

• Bryan Riley, the free trade initiative director at the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, said steel, aluminum and lumber are all being taxed at higher levels, in addition to the broad 10% tariffs on countries around the world.

• How much have tariffs affected Wisconsin residents?

• Miao Wang, an economics professor and director of the Center for Applied Economics at Marquette University, told the Journal Sentinel that the National Taxpayers Union Foundation report is a sensible estimate of the cost of tariffs on consumers, though the numbers themselves were put together by a consulting firm and can’t be independently verified.

• Wisconsin imported about $36.5 billion worth of goods in 2025, then imported another $20.6 billion during the first half of 2026, she said. That totals about $57 billion, so $5.5 billion would be just under 10% of the total.

• Wang said the report’s figures are estimates based on imports since January 2025, and it doesn’t mean every Wisconsin household has written a check for $2,179, but tariffs do generally raise the price of goods.

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