Amid these worsening economic conditions, Trump has campaigned on a promise to help dairy farmers, alleging that the Canadians are “ripping us off.”
But Canada’s protections for its dairy farmers are not Wisconsin dairy farmers’ problem. In fact, Wisconsin farmers have begun seeking advice from their Canadian counterparts, expressing interest in the Canadian system. Canada’s supply management system assures dairy farmers a fair price as industry stakeholders including farmers meet regularly to adjust supply and demand.
Meanwhile, Trump’s renegotiation of NAFTA, the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) in 2019, did not stop farms from closing as bankruptcies in the Midwest continue to rise.
Global trade agreements, including those negotiated by Trump, failed to deal Wisconsin farmers and workers a better hand.
From when NAFTA was passed until it became the USMCA, Wisconsin lost nearly 10 percent of its industrial workforce, or over 46,000 jobs.
On a positive note, according to the High Road Strategy Center’s State of Working Wisconsin Report, years of manufacturing decline seem to be ending as 2025 boasted a record high median wage of $26.17. Unfortunately for workers, that same report finds that rising inflation will eat into wage gains and inequality is worsening because Black workers are being left behind.
Under the current global trade regime, workers find themselves between a rock and a hard place. For instance, workers at CNH Industrial in Racine and Burlington, Iowa, went on strike in 2022 for 260 days and gained a new contract in 2023. But then, workers at the Racine plant found their company announcing layoffs and plans to shift some production to Mexico in 2024.
Iconic firms in Milwaukee like Master Lock had their workforces depleted in the 1990s after NAFTA was passed and production moved south. Master Lock totally closed in the city in 2024.
Workers fed up with being treated like pawns by their corporate employers and elected political leaders will convene in Milwaukee before and during the G20 talks.
The day before talks begin, on Sept. 29, Citizen Action of Wisconsin will host a panel of folks representing farmers, labor, and the environment to discuss the current global trade regime and possible alternatives. The next day, the Milwaukee Labor Council is calling on many of these same groups to stand together and protest.
In terms of concrete demands, most of the groups attending these events support the recently introduced House Resolution 1286. With 51 co-sponsors and endorsed by multiple organizations, including Citizens Trade Campaign, the AFL-CIO, United Steelworkers (USW), International Association of Machinists (IAM Union), Sierra Club, National Family Farm Coalition, Public Citizen, and others, the Resolution calls on our leaders to include within trade deals fair wages for workers, effective anti-monopoly policies, strong environmental standards, and data protection policies and AI regulations.
Free trade deals have cost Wisconsin considerably. Thankfully, the working people hurt by these deals still have the strength to make their voices heard. It’s time for our lawmakers and the other leaders at the G20 to listen to them, and start making deals to benefit working people instead of harming them.
This commentary was originally published in the Wisconsin Examiner.