Talking Trade

In the latest edition of “Talking Trade,” German Deputy Consul General in Chicago Gabriela Bennemann discusses the close trade relationship between the Midwest and Germany. 

She highlights the role of Germany’s consulate in the region, ranging from cultural work and services to promoting international trade in partnership with the German American Chamber of Commerce. 

“We as a consulate are best equipped to support the activities of the chamber on a political level,” she said. “Helping with negotiations, negotiating memoranda of understanding, or any such thing. So we work hand-in-hand.” 

Bennemann shares figures to illustrate Germany’s economic presence in America, noting 5,800 German businesses are located in the U.S. and German companies have invested $619 billion domestically. That’s in addition to $11 billion going into research and development in the U.S., with 75% of that figure focused on manufacturing R&D. 

About half of those German companies in the U.S. are in the manufacturing industry, she notes, adding German businesses collectively represent the third-largest employer in the United States with more than 900,000 jobs. 

“That is, I think, the best number that we can give you because it shows how integrated the German trade and German companies are,” she said. “If you look at the Midwest, it’s basically the main area where the German companies are located.” 

Wisconsin imports about $2.6 billion in goods from Germany each year, she said, along with about $1 billion in state exports to the European country. 

The podcast also explores the potential for future trade agreements at the European Union level, along with non-binding structural agreements between states that can offer a framework for economic cooperation. 

In the latest edition of “Talking Trade,” Great Dane Pub & Brewing Company co-founder and CEO Rob LoBreglio discusses his experience establishing a craft beer operation in Japan. 

“We ended up transplanting the name here, even though it’s in English and we’re in Japan,” LoBreglio said in an on-site interview at the Madison company’s brewery in Sendai within the country’s Miyagi Prefecture. “And you know, now I am happy. I was not sure about that decision, but now it seems like people are reacting well to it. It’s becoming somewhat iconic.” 

LoBreglio says fundraising for the brewery’s foray into Japan was a challenge in getting the business off the ground, along with the language barrier and regulatory differences. 

He also discusses the rise of craft brewing in Japan in recent years. 

“About seven or eight years ago, craft beer in Japan was about 1.5% of the market,” he said, noting that now “it’s increased to somewhere between 3% and 4% … No one thinks it’s going to grow to be 15% of the market like in America, but most people believe that it’s going to at least double up to about 7% or 8% of the market.” 

Great Dane produces 16 different beers in Sendai, and LoBreglio says the business needs to “make what’s popular” despite his own background as a traditional lager brewer. 

“So we’re kind of trying to fill that void between the light lagers and the IPAs, we’re trying to infill a little bit,” he said. 

The discussion also explores the Japanese beer market more broadly, as well as some recent high-profile acquisitions and trends LoBreglio is observing. 

Talking Trade is hosted by E.M Wasylik Associates Managing Director Ken Wasylik and M.E. Dey & Co. President and Managing Director Sandi Siegel. 

In the latest episode of “Talking Trade,” Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce President and CEO Kurt Bauer discusses export challenges for companies in the state and how they’re addressing them. 

“We are still seeing a hangover effect from COVID, supply chains for some are still tangled,” he said. “But most have solved that problem. Most of our members are telling us that they have resolved supply chain challenges. Inflation, however, I still blame on COVID.” 

He tied ongoing inflation to the “trillions in government stimulus that was pumped into the economy,” adding it remains a major issue for businesses. 

Bauer also weighs in on demographic trends driving workforce shortages, noting WMC is increasingly hearing that companies are expanding outside of Wisconsin rather than within, “because they need a long-term pipeline of workers” that the state can’t supply. 

The interview also covers tariffs and global shipping lane disruptions linked to conflicts in the Middle East as well as geopolitical instability linked to the war between Russia and Ukraine and tensions between China and Taiwan. 

Talking Trade is hosted by E.M Wasylik Associates Managing Director Ken Wasylik and M.E. Dey & Co. President and Managing Director Sandi Siegel. 

In the latest episode of “Talking Trade,” Carroll University School of Business Dean Tim Sullivan touts opportunities for U.S. businesses to reach foreign markets. 

Commenting on a report showing just 5% of American companies do business at the international level, Sullivan said he’s “shocked” that more businesses aren’t taking advantage of that opportunity. 

“Five percent is extremely low … You look at the size of the overseas markets, it’s just flabbergasting that it’s that low, that as Americans we just really don’t concentrate on these abundant and very accessible markets around the world,” he said. 

Sullivan held leadership positions with Milwaukee-based manufacturers the Rev Group and Gardner Denver Inc. after working for Bucyrus International, Inc. for 35 years. He also served as a special consultant to former Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker, leading councils focused on workforce development and education. 

Since taking the helm of Carroll University’s School of Business last year, Sullivan says he wants to coordinate and expand efforts to provide international business studies at the Waukesha-based private college. 

“We’ve already begun working on creating a curriculum that they can concentrate a lot of their business and technological studies on international markets,” he said. 

The interview touches on the university’s efforts to expose students to various cultures around the world through travel, and Sullivan says “we need to really back it up” with more educational options focused on supply chain management and importing and exporting. 

Talking Trade is hosted by E.M Wasylik Associates Managing Director Ken Wasylik and M.E. Dey & Co. President and Managing Director Sandi Siegel. 

In the latest edition of “Talking Trade,” Michael Best Strategies Partner Sarah Helton weighs in on recently announced extensions to tariffs on Chinese imports, arguing the move is motivated by “both politics and strategy.” 

“This was the first concrete action that the Biden Administration has taken related to the 301 tariffs, outside of calling for comments from public stakeholders, outside of just continuing the tariffs and the exclusions in place,” she said. 

Last month’s announcement detailed coming changes to tariffs on various products such as steel and aluminum, semiconductors, electric vehicles, batteries, “critical” minerals, solar cells, ship-to-shore cranes and medical products. 

“The U.S. has seen that China is making significant investments in certain areas, like solar, like critical minerals. Also too getting it more into the semiconductor space,” she said. “And so at the same time, you look at the U.S. investments in these areas, more than $860 billion under this administration … They do not want to see, right, that any surge in imports from China would jeopardize the investments that the U.S. is making in those areas.” 

Helton also notes the number of tariff exclusions has been declining over time, falling to about 165 in the latest update from federal officials. 

She advises businesses to keep up with the latest developments in Congress and the Biden Administration related to tariffs, adding “if you’re sitting on the sidelines, you’re going to miss opportunities available to you.” 

Talking Trade is hosted by E.M Wasylik Associates Managing Director Ken Wasylik and M.E. Dey & Co. President and Managing Director Sandi Siegel. 

In the latest episode of “Talking Trade,” Port of Green Bay Director Dean Haen discusses the business climate in northeastern Wisconsin and an ongoing expansion project. 

“We’re serving the industries of agriculture, construction and manufacturing, so as they need raw materials, the port serves as the conduit for those commodities,” he said, noting the port ships petroleum products, diesel, ethanol, liquid asphalt, limestone, salt, coal, iron, aluminum, forestry products and more. 

The port is actively looking for new tenants, Haen said, with a goal of filling gaps in supply chains for the region. 

“Getting someone to change their supply chain takes a lot of time and effort, and they don’t happen overnight,” he said. “So port-related new developments take several years to facilitate.” 

The podcast highlights an effort to transform a former coal-fired power plant into a port project, which has financial support from various county, state and federal grant programs. 

“And we have one last grant that’s out there, a U.S. DOT Raise grant, that if we are successful here, in June we will have assembled all the dollars necessary to repurpose that property,” he said. “So we’re really optimistic and hopeful that we’re successful in this next and hopefully last round of grants needed to see this project built.” 

Haen also touches on the port’s efforts to diversify its commodities as coal use declines amid the clean energy transition, as well as shipbuilding operations in the region that rely on the port. 

“Collectively, we are working to sustain and grow shipbuilding in Wisconsin,” he said. 

Talking Trade is hosted by E.M Wasylik Associates Managing Director Ken Wasylik and M.E. Dey & Co. President and Managing Director Sandi Siegel. 

In the latest episode of “Talking Trade,” Global Lite Refinery CEO Sahr Lebbie discusses how he launched a palm oil refinery in Sierra Leone from his corporate base in Milwaukee. 

He shares details on the history of the business, as well as challenges he overcame on that journey. 

“One of the reasons why myself, as many other students that came to the United States to study, was in search of better opportunities,” he said. “So ultimately, when I came and I noticed some of the opportunities that the United States provides, as long as you work hard, I was able to utilize that.” 

Lebbie says he hasn’t established a “fixed market” in the United States yet, but he’s getting “a lot of attention” from parts of Europe and Asia. He notes palm oil is used in many industries, ranging from food production to pharmaceuticals and manufacturing other products. 

“There’s a high demand for it in Europe, there’s a high demand for it in Asia — China, India, etcetera — I also believe the United States has a high demand for it, but I have not been able to fully incorporate the companies that utilize it,” he said. 

The refinery business is a subsidiary of Global Lite, which is also involved in home and hospice care, maritime transport and real estate development, according to the company’s website. Its Sierra Leone presence includes a 120,000-square-foot space and 300 acres of land. 

In the latest episode of “Talking Trade,” UK Consul General in Chicago, Alan Gogbashian, shares insights on the post-Brexit global trade landscape and other trends. 

Trade between the United States and the UK is on the rise, he notes, as “the economic relationship is thriving” between the two nations. 

“Sitting here in the Midwest, we obviously play a major part of that — this is an economic powerhouse region, it’s a hugely diversified economy,” he said. 

Gogbashian weighs in on the ripple effects of the UK leaving the European Union, noting uncertainty following the move in early 2020 has largely died down. He argues companies “now have the certainty they need,” pointing to various frameworks for “creating certainty and clarity” around international business. 

“Since leaving the European Union, the UK has been allowed to pursue its own international trade policy,” he said. “We couldn’t do that as a member of the [EU] … We can pursue our own trade objectives in the way that makes the most sense for UK interests, and the interests of the individual countries we have relationships with.” 

The discussion also touches on the potential for a free trade agreement between the U.S. and the UK, for which negotiations began under the Trump administration but fizzled under President Joe Biden, Gogbashian said. 

“We’ve had a fantastic economic dialogue with this administration, it just looks different to an FTA conversation,” he said. “In the future, if an FTA were to come back on the table, then we’d certainly be interested in pursuing that. But in the meantime, there’s so much opportunity for us to pursue at state level.” 

Talking Trade is hosted by E.M Wasylik Associates Managing Director Ken Wasylik and M.E. Dey & Co. President and Managing Director Sandi Siegel. 

In the latest edition of “Talking Trade,” Wisconsin District Export Council Acting Chair Chris Wojtowicz discusses the latest developments in the global export landscape and how it connects to the state.  

Wojtowicz, who’s also an international trade consultant with the Small Business Development Center, said he’s seeing “a lot of continued opportunity and growth” in the ports of Superior and Duluth. 

“Around the state, we’re seeing really cool opportunities in foreign direct investment,” he said. “That’s something that we really don’t talk about quite a bit, but you know, between Japan, China’s still investing of course, Mexico’s investing, Italy — it’s just been really kind of neat.” 

The discussion also touches on companies looking at alternatives to China for diversifying their supply chains, as well as some recent disruptions that have underlined the fragility of these networks. That includes the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, caused by a collision with a large container ship. 

The DEC recently re-launched its website with a new events page, Wojtowicz said, aimed at capturing all international trade-related events happening across the state. 

In this week’s episode of “Talking Trade,” Michael Sekula of InPro Corporation discusses global supply chain challenges and how companies are navigating them. 

Sekula is vice president of global supply chain management and safety for the Muskego-based company, which provides architectural products for commercial buildings. 

“There are a couple wars going on, there’s the Red Sea issue going on, and from an export and import perspective, it’s difficult,” he said. “But flying around to various countries … I was just in Europe, and I was just in Dubai, and in the end, you know, there might be those things going on but all they want to do is do business.” 

He also shares advice for companies facing compliance hurdles, noting InPro Corp. recently underwent multiple audits that didn’t uncover any issues. 

“It’s also important to show that you’re a compliant company,” he said. “Don’t try to hide anything … Reach out to them, reach out to the officer or whoever it is and understand what they want, so there’s clear direction on both sides.” 

The discussion touches on the role of compliance consultants in logistics decisions, as well as the potential for technologies such as AI to shape the industry, balancing sustainability with growth and more. 

Sekula also shares insights on how InPro is approaching Asian markets, the impact of tariffs and other government regulations. 

“It’s been a good exercise for us,” he said. “We still have a long way to go but we are mitigating our risks, that’s for sure.”