Imports Made up 17% of U.S. Energy Supply in 2024, Lowest Share in Nearly 40 Years

In 2024, the United States imported about 17% of its domestic energy supply, half of the record share set in 2006 and the lowest share since 1985, according to our Monthly Energy Review. The decline in imports’ share of supply in the previous two decades is attributable to both an increase in domestic energy production and a decrease in energy imports since 2006.

U.S. energy supply comes from three sources: domestic energy production, energy imports from other countries, and any energy brought out of storage.

In 2024, for the third consecutive year, the United States remained a net exporter of energy, producing a record amount that continues to exceed consumption. Individually, U.S. natural gas, crude oil, natural gas plant liquids (NGPLs), biofuels, solar, and wind each set domestic production records in 2024.

Consumer Inflation Accelerated in June

The Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday said that the consumer price index (CPI) – a broad measure of how much everyday goods like gasoline, groceries and rent cost – rose 0.3% in June compared with last month, while it was up 2.7% on an annual basis. Both marked accelerations from last month, when the monthly increase was 0.1% and the annual figure was 2.4%.

So-called core prices, which exclude more volatile measurements of gasoline and food to better assess price growth trends, were up 0.2% from the prior month and 2.9% from a year ago.  As with the headline number, the core numbers ticked higher compared with May, when inflation rose 0.1% on a monthly basis and 2.8% on an annual basis.

Food prices rose 0.3% in June from the prior month and were 3% higher on an annual basis. The food at home index rose 0.3% in June from a month ago and is up 2.4% on an annual basis, while the food away from home index increased 0.4% on a monthly basis and is 3.8% higher than a year ago.

Energy prices increased 0.9% in June after falling by 1% in May, driven by 1% increases in the gasoline and energy indexes last month, as well as a 0.5% increase in the natural gas index. The energy index fell 0.8% over the last year while the gasoline index is down 8.3% from a year ago, although the electricity index is up 5.8% and natural gas has risen 14.2% in the last year.

Housing prices rose by 0.2% in June and was the primary factor in driving the overall CPI increase. Over the last year, the shelter index increased 3.8%.

Transportation costs rose 0.2% on a monthly basis and are 3.4% higher than a year ago. Airline fares declined 0.1% for the month and are down 3.5% compared with a year ago, while motor vehicle insurance rose 0.1% on a monthly basis and is 6.1% higher than last year.

Hospital Services Fee Schedule for Worker’s Compensation Aims to Reduce Treatment Costs

The new budget signed by Gov. Tony Evers includes a workers’ compensation fee schedule for hospital charges — a compromise on an issue that for years has pitted the state’s business lobby against the health care industry.

Scott Manley, executive vice president of government affairs for Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, says the fee schedule doesn’t go as far as the group would have liked. But he called it a good first step to “rein in” costs for employers related to workplace injuries, as it would set new maximum fees for hospital care provided to injured workers under the workers’ compensation program.

In an interview this week, Manley noted Wisconsin has some of the highest costs in the country for common procedures in the workers’ compensation space, such as major surgeries and pain management. He argued that’s because the state is currently one of just five that don’t have a fee schedule for workers’ compensation medical costs.

“Although we recognize that the fee schedule that was passed in the budget is not as, you know, comprehensive as we’d like it to be, we think that it’s a very important and necessary first step, in terms of being able to get Wisconsin out of the position of being the most expensive state in the country for work comp medical procedures,” Manley said.

Ultimately, he expects “the rate that businesses pay for their workers’ compensation insurance will go down” to the extent that the fee schedule lowers medical costs in the program in the years to come. A recent study from the Workers Compensation Research Institute focused on the recent inflationary period found fee schedules “ensure similar or lower price growth rates” compared to the overall health care system.

After Federal Changes, Wisconsin Readies for Second Broadband Eexpansion Go-Round

Two and half years of work were in the books. Preliminary awards were made. Then last month, the federal government announced changes to a $42 billion Biden-era broadband expansion program.

“It’s been a very busy month,” said state Broadband and Digital Equity Director Alyssa Kenney, who administers the program in Wisconsin for the Public Service Commission.

Signed into law in 2021, the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program, also known as BEAD, sent about $1 billion to Wisconsin. It aimed to connect every American household and business to high-speed internet using fiber-optic cables.

In Wisconsin, that means connecting about the last 8.9 percent of the state’s homes and businesses, according to a state document. Unconnected locations are concentrated in northern, central and southwest Wisconsin.

Kenney’s office divided the state into units of under-served households and fielded bids from internet companies for each one. It made hundreds of preliminary awards.

On June 6, the government ordered states to revoke those awards and redo the application process under new rules it said would connect households more quickly and cost-effectively.

Now, states must be neutral between bids for fiber-optic, wireless or satellite internet.

“Removing the preference for a single technology will bring the full force of the competitive marketplace to bear and allow American taxpayers to obtain the greatest return on their investment,” the government’s press release said.

States must choose “the combination of project proposals with the lowest overall cost.” Since projects can be interconnected, Kenney said, that doesn’t necessarily mean choosing the cheapest project in every location.

President Trump Announces 35% tariffs on Canada Starting August 1

U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday raised tariffs on Canadian imports to 35%, effective August 1, complaining that Ottawa had retaliated with duties against Washington.

“Instead of working with the United States, Canada retaliated with its own Tariffs,” Trump said to Mark Carney, prime minister of Canada, in a letter posted on Truth Social.

Responding to Trump’s announcement, Carney said in a post on X that “Canada has made vital progress to stop the scourge of fentanyl in North America. We are committed to continuing to work with the United States to save lives and protect communities in both our countries.”

“The Canadian government has steadfastly defended our workers and businesses. We will continue to do so as we work towards the revised deadline of August 1.”

The 35% tariffs will be separate from all sectoral tariffs, Trump said, warning that the duty might be increased, if Canada retaliated. Canada is subject to Trump’s 50% tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, 25% tariffs on autos, and faces a 50% levy on copper shipments starting August 1.

Other imports from Canada into the U.S. currently attract a 25% levy that Trump imposed earlier this year over the country’s alleged role in the flow of fentanyl, with exemptions for those in compliance with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Energy imports from Canada are subject to a lower 10% levy.

“If for any reason you decide to raise your Tariffs, then, whatever the number you choose to raise them by, will be added onto the 35% that we charge,” Trump said Thursday. “Goods transshipped to evade this higher tariff will be subject to that higher tariff.”

Trump indicated that the tariff rates in future will depend on how Washington’s relationship with Ottawa pans out, while mentioning that his country faced challenges from Canada that went beyond fentanyl.

″[Canada] has many Tariff, and Non-Tariff, Policies and Trade Barriers, which cause unsustainable Trade Deficits against the United States … The Trade Deficit is a major threat to our Economy and, indeed, our National Security!”

FTC Warns Companies to Comply with “Made in USA” Requirements

On Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission sent warning letters to four companies who claim their consumer goods are of U.S. origin, reminding them to comply with the FTC’s “Made in USA” requirements. Additionally, the FTC sent letters to Amazon and Walmart regarding third-party sellers who appear to be making deceptive “Made in USA” claims about their products on those online marketplaces.

The warning letters explain that the FTC Act and the Made in USA Labeling Rule require that products advertised as “Made in the USA” must be “all or virtually all” made in the United States. The FTC warned these companies to discontinue such claims or provide substantiation that the products at issue are in fact “all or virtually all” made in the United States. Companies that violate the FTC Act and the MUSA Labeling Rule may be subject to legal action including the issuance of an administrative subpoena, the filing of a federal lawsuit, injunctive relief, and civil penalties or other monetary relief.

Throughout July, the FTC is highlighting the importance of the FTC’s “Made in USA” requirements to ensure that Americans can trust that products advertised or labeled as “Made in USA” are actually American-made. The FTC offers additional guidance on how to comply with the Made in USA Rule.

Wisconsin Supreme Court Overturns Legislature’s Power to Suspend Administrative Rules

Yesterday, a split state Supreme Court overturned the Legislature’s power to suspend administrative rules, ending decades of lawmakers having the power to at least temporarily block agency regulations.

In a 4-3 decision, the court found the statutes giving those powers to the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules violate the Wisconsin Constitution’s requirement of bicameralism and presentment, which mandates any law to pass both houses of the Legislature and be presented to the governor.

The ruling stems from a challenge Dem Gov. Tony Evers filed to two actions by JCRAR: indefinitely blocking commercial building code rules administered by the Department of Safety and Professional Services and suspending for more than three years the rule the Marriage and Family Therapy, Professional Counseling, and Social Work Examining Board issued that served as a de facto ban on conversion therapy.

The rulemaking process includes multiple steps, from the Governor proposing a framework for the regulation to submitting it to the Legislature for review and then publication. Prior to the court’s ruling, JCRAR had several options to halt rules from taking effect.

It could meet and take executive action to introduce legislation in each house of the Legislature to support the objection. If the bill becomes law, the agency can’t promulgate the rule unless a later law expressly authorizes it to do so. That option remains even after the court’s decision.

The ruling overturned the committee’s option to indefinitely object to a rule. Under that process, the rule was barred from moving forward unless specifically authorized by the Legislature.

Trump Administration Pauses Reciprocal Tariffs until August 1

The U.S. plans to charge up to 70% tariffs on imports from some countries starting August 1 as President Donald Trump’s 90-day pause on his country-specific reciprocal duties nears its expiration date.

Starting Monday at noon EST, the U.S. will send letters detailing tariff rates for specific trading partners that have yet to reach a tariff deal with the Trump administration before the pause ends July 9, the President said Sunday. Trump told reporters Friday that the rates would range between 10% and 70%.

The U.S. is specifically focused on “18 important trading relationships,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday. He also indicated that countries that do not reach deals in the next few days will return to the tariff rate Trump first outlined as part of the president’s global reciprocal tariff announcement April 2.

“President Trump’s going to be sending letters to some of our trading partners, saying that, if you don’t move things along, then, on August 1, you will boomerang back to your April 2 tariff level,” Bessent said.

It remains unclear if countries will be able to negotiate with the Trump administration after this week’s deadline, but Bessent said the Aug. 1 implementation date does not mean the 90-day tariff pause has been extended.

“It’s not a new deadline. We are saying this is when it’s happening,” Bessent said. “If you want to speed things up, have at it. If you want to go back to the old rate, that’s your choice.”

Since the reciprocal tariff announcement in early April, the U.S. has come to terms on deals with three countries, according to Trump. Most recently, Trump said his administration reached a deal with Vietnam wherein imports from the country would be charged a 20% tariff upon entering the U.S.

The U.S. has also formulated a framework for a deal with China and signed a pact the U.K.

Governor Evers Signs Two-Year State Budget into Law

Wisconsin lawmakers voted to approve a state budget late Wednesday night that spends more than $111 billion over the next two years, cuts more than 300 state positions and increases funding for the child care industry and the Universities of Wisconsin system. It also cuts taxes by about $1.4 billion.

Governor Evers signed the bill, wielding his powerful partial veto pen on several dozen items but maintaining the core of a bipartisan deal announced earlier this week.

The bipartisan deal included what Governor Evers described as the largest increase to the state’s special education reimbursement rate in history and the largest funding increase to the Universities of Wisconsin in two decades.

The bill also cuts taxes by restructuring the second tax bracket, eliminating the sales tax on household utility bills and exempting some retirement income tax for seniors.

Republicans celebrated an overall reduction in state jobs by 303 positions, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau. In his initial proposal, Evers’ budget would have added about 881 jobs to the state rolls.

U.S. Supreme Court to Decide Whether Shutting Down Michigan Line 5 Pipeline is a State or Federal Fight

The U.S. Supreme Court announced Monday it will review whether Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s lawsuit seeking to shut down a section of an aging pipeline beneath a Great Lakes channel belongs in state court.

Nessel sued in state court in June 2019 seeking to void the easement that allows the Enbridge energy company to operate a 4.5-mile (6.4-kilometer) section of pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac, which link Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.

She won a restraining order shutting down the pipeline from Ingham County Judge James Jamo in June 2020, although Enbridge was allowed to continue operations after meeting safety requirements.

The company moved the lawsuit into federal court in 2021, arguing it affects U.S. and Canadian trade. But a three-judge panel from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to Jamo in June 2024, finding that Enbridge missed a 30-day deadline to change jurisdictions.

Enbridge officials said in a statement that they were encouraged by the Supreme Court’s choice, noting that exceptions to the 30-day deadline exist.