Godlewski Discusses Impact of Tariffs with Farmers in Cadott

Secretary of State and Democratic candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin Sarah Godlewski met with farmers in Cadott on Thursday.

The visit aimed to highlight plans to expand access to healthcare and address the affordability crisis facing farmers and manufacturers if she and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley emerge victorious in the November election. Following a roundtable discussion, Godlewski shared her thoughts on the economic difficulties farmers across the state have struggled with over the last couple of years.

"I mean my big takeaway today from Les, who has been a multigenerational farmer here in Western Wisconsin, is that he's really frustrated," she said. "You know, he's working nights, weekends, every day of the week. And what are politicians like Tom Tiffany doing for him? Nothing. And when they had an opportunity to stop these retaliatory tariffs from happening in Canada back in April as a member of Congress, he said no."

Tariff policy is controlled at the federal level, leaving state officials with limited power to relieve some of those struggles. Godlewski did, however, share some state level options that could help reduce the additional strain on the agricultural industry in other ways.

"Well I think the big thing is we know Donald Trump and Tom Tiffany are stopping our farmers from exporting into markets that we know are really important, like Canada being our number one partner," she said. "We have to figure out then, how can we make things more readily available here? And so we talked about everything from opening up other markets, to the work we can do with infrastructure, or even like a soybean crusher because that can turn it into materials that then can be also used. But that's going to require state investment and I will tell you, that's something David and I are committed to doing and making sure we help our farmers succeed."

Crowley and Godlewski will face off with Republican Congressman Tom Tiffany and David Varnum to be the next Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin in the November election.