Listening to the heartland

Sec. of Commerce provides forum for area business leaders

U.S. Sec. of the Commerce Gina Raimondo joined about a dozen area business leaders, as well as Gov. Tony Evers, on Friday to get their input on things going well, and also the challenges they’re facing.

“I’ve been making an effort to get around the country, to do exactly this,” she said during the hour-long event held at Northwestern Mutual and hosted by President Tim Gerand. “To visit communities and find out what is going well, and where we can do better.”

Raimondo said everything she does as secretary is to “improve the competitiveness of the U.S., improve our ability to compete and, frankly, outcompete the rest of the world.”
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One of the areas she’s paying close attention to is chip manufacturing for artificial intelligence and bringing production of those chips to the U.S.

“None of those chips are made in America, not a single one. Every one is made in Taiwan,” she said, pointing to national security issues this provides. “So I’m working incredibly hard to get companies to build manufacturing facilities in the U.S., a lot in the Midwest.”

Business leaders spanning across a number of sectors from around the region provided the secretary with several issues to bring back to Washington – those included challenges related to trade tariffs, the need for extra resources for research and development initiatives, tax policy and supply chain issues, something Raimondo said the federal government and her department are addressing.

"If you want to get more people in the trades, you have to get girls.”

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“None of those chips are made in America, not a single one. Every one is made in Taiwan.

So I’m working incredibly hard to get companies to build manufacturing facilities in the U.S., a lot in the Midwest.”

​U.S. Sec. of the Commerce
Gina Raimondo

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“We all had our eyes opened during COVID, finding out how fragile our supply chains are,” she said, pointing out that she’s opening a supply chain office in her department. “We really have to do a better job. The private sector runs the supply chain, not the public sector. But we have to do some predictive analytics to get ahead of the problems.”

One of the issues that came up several times during the discussion was the lack of talent in the trades and the need for that talent in manufacturing. Raimondo said one of the untapped resources is guiding women to the trades.

“Fifty-one percent of the population are women, 11 percent of tradespeople are women,” she said. “If you want to get more people in the trades, you have to get girls.”

Both Evers and MMAC President Dale Kooyenga said smart immigration policies are necessary to fill the gap, as well.

During her visit to Milwaukee on Friday, Raimondo also visited WRTP Big Step for a discussion on ways to increase the number of women working in the trades. She also spent some time walking through Summerfest with its new CEO Sarah Pancheri.