A delegation including Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Thom Petersen went on a trade mission to Switzerland and Germany in November, visiting major business centers in Zürich, Düsseldorf and Berlin.

According to USDA data, Germany was Minnesota’s eighth largest export market for goods, valued at $649 million in 2024. Switzerland is Minnesota’s 22nd largest export destination with exports valued at $232 million in 2024.

The Nov. 15-22 trip was meant to spur growth in the state’s exports of goods and services and showcase Minnesota as a top destination for business investment, develop new partnership opportunities and strengthen existing trade and diplomatic ties, according to the governor’s office.

“Amid global disruptions caused by trade wars, Minnesota is doing all we can to strengthen the trade and investment relationships that create and protect jobs at home,” said Walz. “As some of the largest and most innovative economies in the world, Germany and Switzerland both offer excellent opportunities for Minnesota businesses to expand their exports. I look forward to strengthening our relationships in technology, agriculture, and education.”

This delegation had representatives from Minnesota businesses and organizations within Minnesota’s medical technology, clean technology, food and agriculture and higher education sectors.

Speaking on the Monday after returning to the U.S., Petersen said he brought home new relationships and a sense that existing ones are strengthening.

It was Petersen’s first time in both countries. In recent years, he’s been to the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Japan, Finland and Australia on trade missions. He said the group of about 70 was split into four tracks and went their separate ways to focus on their industries. The ag representatives came mostly from Minnesota’s soybean industry along with its edible bean one.

As for any concrete outcomes for ag and food trade with either country, Petersen said no, but the relationship-building was worth the time spent in Europe.

“So many of the businesses have strong connections in Minnesota, or want to improve their connections in Minnesota,” he said. “I always say these trips, you don’t know if you’re going to close a deal in two days, two weeks, two months or two years — to see something come to fruition.”

Tariff impact

Green Acres Milling, which is set to open in the summer of 2026, on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, in Albert Lea, Minnesota. (Noah Fish / Agweek / Forum News Service)

He said it’s the relationships that matter, and seeing firsthand the impacts from U.S. federal policy on trade.

One of those connections was with Buhler Inc., the Switzerland-based technology and manufacturing company that Petersen said “a lot” of ag and food companies in Minnesota use for equipment.

It was a coincidence that when the Minnesota delegation touched down in Switzerland, a huge win in trade policy was just announced, that a U.S. tariff cut to 15% for Switzerland could take effect early December.

On Nov. 14, Switzerland and the U.S. reached a preliminary agreement to cut the tariffs to 15%, more than three months after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed a 39% rate, the highest on any country in Europe.

“That’s big news, thinking they had the 39% tariff until the week we left,” Petersen said.

That tariff included all Buhler equipment bound for Albert Lea, Minn., to build the new oat-processing plant, which is now the city’s tallest building.

“So we were glad to see the tariffs dropped, but discussing the importance of Buhler, who has its North American headquarters in Plymouth, Minnesota, and how do we support them,” Petersen said.

Minnesota ties

He said the group also toured businesses with huge Minnesota ties including Cargill’s German headquarters, Syngenta’s headquarters in Switzerland, and home of CLAAS in Berlin.

Petersen said CLAAS combines and silage choppers have been sold across Minnesota at Arnold’s dealerships and more.

“AGCO’s facility in Jackson, Minnesota, as well,” he said. “It’s kind of interesting to show what a small world it is.”

Minnesota’s ag commissioner said that tariffs may have worked 75 years ago, but in today’s interconnected world, it’s about using the biggest pieces of industry to work together.

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LONDON (AP) — Oxford University Press has named “rage bait’’ as its word of the year, capturing the internet zeitgeist of 2025.

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The phrase refers to online content that is “deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or offensive,” with the aim of driving traffic to a particular social media account, Oxford said in a statement.

“The person producing it will bask in the millions, quite often, of comments and shares and even likes sometimes,’’ lexicographer Susie Dent told the BBC. This is a result of the algorithms used by social media companies, “because although we love fluffy cats, we’ll appreciate that we tend to engage more with negative content and content that really provokes us.”

Rage bait topped two other contenders — “aura farming’’ and “biohack’’ — after public comment on a shortlist compiled by lexicographers at Oxford University Press.

“Aura farming’’ means to cultivate a public image by presenting oneself in “a way intended subtly to convey an air of confidence, coolness or mystique.’’ “Biohack’’ is defined as “an attempt to improve or optimize one’s physical or mental performance, health or longevity.’’

The word of the year is selected by lexicographers at Oxford University Press who analyze new and emerging words, as well as changes in the way language is being used, to identify words of “cultural significance.”

Oxford University Press, publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary, has selected a word of the year annually since 2004.

Past winners include “podcast” in 2005, “emoji” in 2015, and in 2022 “goblin mode,” which described people who resisted returning to normal life after the COVID-19 pandemic.

By STAN CHOE, Associated Press Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are giving back some of last week’s rally on Monday, as bitcoin, Nvidia and other former stars of Wall Street fall again.

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Hidden gems to discover this Cyber Week

The S&P 500 slipped 0.6% and was on track to break a five-day winning streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 267 points, or 0.6%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% lower.

Last week’s rally was largely due to strengthening hopes that the Federal Reserve will cut its main interest rate at its meeting next week to help shore up the slowing job market. Such hopes are still high, with traders betting on a roughly 87% chance of it, according to data from CME Group.

But yields for longer-term Treasurys nevertheless rose in the bond market on Monday. It was part of a worldwide climb for bond yields after the head of the Bank of Japan hinted at a possible hike to interest rates there.

When bonds are paying higher yields, they can attract investors who would otherwise buy stocks, cryptocurrencies or other investments. Higher bond yields can undercut prices for all kinds of investments, and they particularly hurt those seen as the most expensive.

Bitcoin, which was soaring around $125,000 in October, dropped below $86,000. That’s down roughly 5% from a day earlier.

That sent stocks lower across the crypto industry. Coinbase Global sank 4.8%, and Robinhood Markets fell 4.5%, for example. Strategy, the company that used to be known as MicroStrategy and now raises money just to buy bitcoin, dropped 6.9%.

Other former high flyers on Wall Street also struggled, including stocks caught up in the frenzy around artificial-intelligence technology.

Nvidia, which has grown to become Wall Street’s most influential stocks, slipped 0.6% and was one of the heaviest weights on the market. Palantir Technologies fell 2.3%, and Super Micro Computer sank 3%.

The market seemed to get relatively little solace from an apparently strong start to the holiday shopping season. Consumer spending during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday retailing bonanza was expected to exceed expectations, despite uncertainty over the outlook for the U.S. economy.

Among the few winners on Wall Street was Synposys, which rose 4.6%. It said Nvidia is investing $2 billion in its stock as part of an expanded partnership between the two.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed amid some sharp moves.

France’s CAC 40 fell 0.5%, dragged down in part by a 5.1% loss for Airbus. The European aerospace giant said Monday that most of its fleet of 6,000 A320 passenger jets have received an update after a weekend software glitch that could have affected flight controls. Travelers faced minor disruptions heading into the weekend as airlines around the world scrambled to push the software updates out after Airbus warned of the problem Friday, one of the busiest travel days of the year.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 tumbled 1.9% on worries about the possibility of higher interest rates. Japan’s benchmark interest rate has remained near zero for years in hopes of juicing the economy. Now inflation is holding above the Bank of Japan’s target of about 2%.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.08% from 4.02% Friday.

AP Business Writer Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.