Wisconsin’s 150 Ginseng Growers Slammed By Tariffs

Wisconsin Ginseng. Photo by Gary Stevens (CC BY 2.0).

Ginseng is an important crop for Wisconsin: it produces more than 90% of all ginseng grown in the U.S.

Today, there are more than 150 ginseng growers in the central region of Wisconsin, and most of that is grown in Marathon County. The root vegetable generates $40 million for the local economy, which comes largely from Chinese buyers, as the Northwoods station WAEO reported back in April.

The biggest producer is Ginseng Enterprises in Wausau, which is one of the largest ginseng exporters in the country. Or at least it was. But in 2018, during Donald Trump‘s first term as president, tariffs on ginseng were raised from 12.5% to 42.5% before dropping back down to 32.5% in 2022 under President Joe Biden.

Then came Trump’s second term. In April his administration the tariff rose to 66.5%.

As a result said Will Hsu, President of Hsu’s Ginseng Enterprises, his customers starting searching for cheaper alternatives. “I have customers who are canceling orders now for ginseng coming from the US,” Hsu said. “They can source it from Canada or from domestic production in China much cheaper than they can source it from the United States.”

“I never thought I’d be fighting in a war, but I guess I’m fighting in a trade war,” he lamented.

For years ginseng growers in the area had a major advantage: there’s something special about the Marathon County region’s soil and the climate, what the French call “terroir.”

“Customers over the last 100-some years have gotten used to this taste and flavor, probably no different than wine connoisseurs feel about Napa Valley or France,” Hue told Harvest News in a recent story. Central Wisconsin has been dubbed The Napa Valley of American Ginseng.

“American ginseng is a staple of Chinese medicine, offering a cooling or tonifying effect that contrasts the more fiery ginseng native to Asia,” the story noted. “The slightly bitter, herbal-tasting roots are mostly sold dried, but they can also be processed into powders and teas.”

The plant sells for $700 to $800 per pound when dried.

As the trade war between Trump and China heated up, the tariff on Chinese goods rose as high as 145%. In response, China placed a 117 percent tariff on U.S. ginseng. By May that was up to 147%. But when the two countries agreed to a 90-day pause in May, the import tax fell back to the 32.5% that was in place since 2022.

Hsu urged his buyers to take advantage of the pause. But some companies are holding out hope for a better import tax as a result of recent trade talks between the two countries.

Which leaves Hsu with tons of product he can’t sell. Thousands of boxes full of dried ginseng are stacked and waiting at his company’s warehouse. That includes more than 80% of his crop from 2024.

If he can’t sell to China, those boxes will never go to market. “There is no other market in the world that will consume this much ginseng,” he said.

All this is happening in an area, Marathon County, that backed Trump in the 2024 election by nearly 59% to 40% for Democrat Kamala Harris.