Business owners from both sides of the U.S.-Canada border gathered Tuesday in Vermont to share how the Trump administration’s sweeping tariffs have affected their industries.
President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum and repeated comments that Canada should become the 51st state have infuriated Canadians, and many are boycotting American goods in response.
“What’s going on in Canada is without precedent. The threat is over and above tariffs right now,” said Marie-Claude Bibeau, a Canadian member of parliament representing Compton-Stanstead. “And I’m even a bit a bit emotional when I say that because it’s a threat against our sovereignty.”
The 18 participants in the roundtable discussion included breweries, a maple syrup producer, a furniture company, an electrical company and a ski resort.
Donna Young of Judd’s Wayeeses Farms in Morgan said most of the equipment she uses to produce maple products comes from Canada.
“All the tariffs and the changing political atmosphere, it’s just made it extremely disruptive,” she said. “The weather is always a big stress factor when you’re sugaring. We don’t need this extra stress on top of it.”
Bob Montgomery, of Hill Farmstead Brewery in Greensboro, said the tariff on the aluminum used to make beer cans will ultimately drive up the cost of beer.
“That 25% increase on the tariff will simply just get passed along to us,” he said.
Sen. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, said he is disturbed by Trump’s actions, which he said have affected what has long been a stable and valuable relationship.
”There’s no place for this,” said Welch, who hosted the meeting. “We are neighbors. We’re allies. We’re friends. And I want to keep it that way.”
Canada is the top export destination for 36 U.S. states. Nearly $3.6 billion Canadian (US$2.7 billion) worth of goods and services cross the border each day. In Vermont, trade with Canada accounted for more than a third of the state’s exports and two-thirds of its imports last year. According to Welch, one in four of the state’s businesses rely on trade with Canada, and they cannot afford to absorb a 25% hike on imports.
“Everybody knows, except apparently President Trump, that the people who pay the tariffs are the people who buy the products,” Welch said in a Senate floor speech last week.“This is really, really stupid. This is going to hurt Vermont.”
Bibeau urged the American participants to pressure Trump to reverse course.
“This is not the right thing to do, not for your economy and not for ours either,” she said. “And I think we have to keep working together and to make the demonstration that it’s harming our two countries and our people.”
