MacIver News Minute: Evers' Trade Mission Vacations

The MacIver Report: Wisconsin This Week

One of the secret perks of being governor is the ability to take foreign vacations on the taxpayer dime. Oh sure, officially they’re called “trade missions,” and their purpose is to promote Wisconsin products overseas, but their results are nothing to write home about. Evers’ first big trip was to Japan in 2019. Of course, he took his wife. There were 28 people in the delegation all together. Since then, total annual exports from Wisconsin to Japan have dropped 11%. That’s $83 million a year. Agricultural exports even worse. They’ve plummeted by 35%. Evers choose Europe for his second vaca- trade mission. That was two years ago. He visited Belgium, a fast-growing market for Wisconsin goods – at least it was until Evers’ visited. Since then, exports have dropped by 15%. Now, Evers just got back from a third trip. This one was to Germany, another hot market for Wisconsin goods. We’ll see if it stays that way now that Evers stopped by to shake hands.