Milwaukee business owners talk tariff uncertainty with Senator Tammy Baldwin

MILWAUKEE (CBS58) — On Monday, U.S Senator Tammy Baldwin met with local business owners to see how President Trump's trade war is impacting their bottom line.

"Consumers aren't going to want to pay extra. I am not sure how much of that we can eat ourselves in cost," said Russ Klisch.

Beer garden season is around the corner but the next time you crack open a cold one, it might be more than you bargained for.

In February, President Trump announced a 25% on steel and aluminum. Now, with the price of aluminum expected to rise, Lakefront Brewery President Russ Klisch says switching to glass is not an option.

"You might be seeing a case of beer, just from the can standpoint itself, going up maybe 25 to 50 cents," Klisch explained.

It's not just the aluminum cans; it's also importing hops from countries like Germany or Belgium.

"The ingredients we get from foreign sources, like German hops and malt, those are things that are concerning us right now."

Most of America's aluminum comes from Canada, China and Mexico.

According to the Beer Institute, 64% of overall beer distribution in 2023 was in aluminum cans versus 26% in glass bottles.

"These are both made in China; now this is going to be $10, this is going to be $100," said Jim McGuigan.

Senator Baldwin heard from concerned business owners across multiple industries Monday. Like owner of Energy Masters, Jim McGuigan.

"People have already been telling me things like, 'I can't really afford 15, 20, $30,000 for a roof. If they can't afford that, wait until these new tariffs start to hit them," said McGuigan.

He says nearly all of his products are made in China or India.

"It's going to increase the price of roofing," said McGuigan.

He says the trade war has caused a lot of uncertainty.

"I went ahead and bought a semi load full of lumber, but the problem there is there's chaos, it turns out the lumber isn't going to have a tariff," said McGuigan.

Last Thursday, President Trump announced a 90-day pause on all reciprocal tariffs, leaving an additional baseline 10% tariff in place on all imports from all countries.