‘Nothing But Headaches’: Vermont Businesses Decry Canada Tariffs
They went to the podium, one after another — a ski-resort operator, a cheesemaker, a man who sells snow-grooming equipment and more. Each had the same plea: end the trade war with Canada. It’s hurting our business.
Vermont’s Jay Peak Resort is a place where American and Canadian skiers crowd together before hitting the slopes. From its aerial tramway, visitors can take in a vista view of both countries. In a normal year, more than 35% of visitors come from the Canadian side of the border, which is less than 10 miles away.
But the relationship between the US and Canada is anything but normal right now. Last ski season, the number of Canadians at Jay Peak dropped by about 25%, part of a broader drop in travel to the US.
Business had been slowly starting to bounce back, with bookings and events from Canadians for the upcoming season, according to Steve Wright, the resort’s president. But it’s been slowing again, he said, since President Donald Trump imposed new 50% tariffs on goods imported from Canada, unveiled new threats and signed an order to rename Lake Ontario to “Lake America”.
“What’s affecting us most isn’t necessarily the tariffs, it’s the rhetoric and the erosion of trust that is underneath that,” Wright said, also recalling Trump’s musings about making Canada the 51st state. “We depend on moving people across the border.”
Business leaders in northern Vermont gathered this week at the resort about two hours southeast of Montreal to speak out about the trade war. Some are simply reeling from the latest escalation, which has further frayed the ties between two longtime allies that exchanged almost $900 billion of goods and services last year.
That trade is vital to Canada and to many northern US states. But the tariff dispute, and the verbal and social media assaults by Trump and many of his officials against Canada, have become an obstacle for some of that business. The White House did not return a request for comment.
Trump and his officials argue that tariffs are a necessary tool to rebalance the US’s trading relationships, including with its North American partners, Canada and Mexico. The US had a trade deficit in goods of $55 billion with Canada last year because the US imports more than 4 million barrels a day of crude and petroleum products. Excluding energy, the US has a trade surplus with its northern neighbor.
Carney’s Counter-Tariffs
In Vermont, the Canada-US friction has created some unity among Democrats and Republicans. Though Trump never won the state and it’s represented by Bernie Sanders in the US Senate, voters have elected a Republican governor, Phil Scott, five straight times. When the president made his Lake America order, Scott called it “petty and disappointing. We should be at the negotiating table, finding a path forward that strengthens both the US and Canadian economies.”
Trump’s new 50% tariffs on hundreds of Canadian items under a Depression-era law represent a cost of about $193 million on Canadian goods imported into Vermont, according to estimates from the state’s department of economic development.
But the retaliatory counter-tariffs Canada is planning, which are due to come into effect Sept. 8, will sting even more, adding about $318 million in costs to Vermont’s exports to Canada, the department estimates.
Track Inc., which sells equipment with names like “Snow Rabbit” and “Tucker Sno-Cat” to clients on both sides of the border, has been swept up in the trade war.
“Since Trump’s second term has started, it’s been nothing but headaches,” said Mike Desmarais, Track’s owner. The company’s sales dropped 30% in 2025. “This year, they had started to pick up, but now the order books have just slammed shut.”
Desmarais said he’s expecting to ship two US-made machines by the end of September to the Canadian province of New Brunswick, but tariff-related uncertainty is a major ordeal.
“Our business is just destined to close. If these tariffs stay active, we’re not going to have the business,” he said.
Artisanal cheese maker Jasper Hill Farm had been working toward expanding its business in Canada, where dairy imports are tightly regulated — one of the trade irritants cited by the US side. A licensed importer had finally agreed in 2024 to distribute the producer’s cheeses.
“Then in February of last year, what looked like was going to be a $1 million year for us went absolutely cold,” said founder Mateo Kehler. A purchase order was made this year, but it just got canceled because of Canada’s forthcoming 25% counter-tariffs on US cheese.
As Jasper Hill was trying to modernize its operations, it ordered cheesemaking equipment from Canada and France. It got slammed by hefty customs duties when it imported them in 2025. “Tariffs are changing week to week and month to month, and it becomes almost impossible to manage a budget within the context of this environment that we’re in,” Kehler said. “It’s horrendous.”
Senator Peter Welch, a Democrat from Vermont, center, with business representatives after a group photo during a media event in Jay, Vermont.
The Jay Peak gathering was organized by Vermont Senator Peter Welch, a Democrat, who has announced a bill along with New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Representative Bradley Schneider of Illinois to repeal the tariff authority that Trump used for the new 50% duties.
The bill has no chance of becoming law, and Trump has already threatened to put 50% tariffs on Canadian vehicles and auto parts on Jan. 1. “Canada will be treated like a State no longer! On Trade, and in other ways, also, they are among the worst Nations in the World to deal with. They feel entitled, and yet, WE DON’T NEED CANADA, THEY NEED US!” the president posted on social media on Aug. 24.
“These tariffs are wrong, these tariffs are destructive, these tariffs are hurting good people and threatening our jobs, increasing our prices,” Welch said. “They’ve got to end.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.
