Vermont is hoping that local diplomacy will alleviate the strain that U.S. foreign policy has put on the state's business ties with Canada.
Vermont’s relationship with its largest trading partner has never been more stressed. That tension isn’t because of any personal animosity between Vermont and Canada. Rather President Donald Trump’s constant threat of new tariffs, and his challenge to Canada’s sovereignty, have complicated commerce and tourism in both countries.
Government leaders in Vermont are doing their best to maintain bonds during this difficult time. And on a perfect late summer day in Newport last week, officials from Quebec and Vermont gathered on Lake Memphremagog for a little cruise ship diplomacy.
It’s kind of being betrayed by a friend.Marianne Dandurand, member of parliament for the Compton-Stanstead district
The two-hour trip to the U.S.-Canada border was hosted by the Vermont Agency of Commerce and Community Development. The passenger list included elected officials, municipal leaders, trade representatives and business owners from Quebec and Vermont.
“Bonjour, bienvenue. Hello, thank you,” Deputy Secretary of Commerce Tayt Brooks said to the group shortly after they left the dock. “We really appreciate everyone coming today.”
Brooks emphasized the importance of Vermont’s business relationship with Canada, and the heightened value of personal relationships in the new political environment.
It's part of a broader strategy that has seen state and local officials reaching out across the border in recent months. Vermont, however, is contending with some powerful undercurrents, according to René Sylvestre, Quebec’s delegate to New England.
“You have to understand, we went from, let’s say a year ago, from unconditional trust to, oh, hold on a second, it’s more transactional,” Sylvestre said on the ship’s upper deck.
Surveys show that confidence among Canadian businesses in the U.S. market has plummeted over the last eight months. Sylvestre said he worries it’ll get worse before it gets better.
“I really believe we haven’t seen nothing yet,” he said.
The 30 or so people aboard the boat spent most of the trip mingling over sandwiches and potato salad. As the vessel floated directly above the U.S.-Canada border, Marianne Dandurand, a member of the Liberal Party who represents the Compton-Stanstead district in the Parliament of Canada, offered optimism for the future.
“And it starts from here,” she said. “It starts from, first, grassroots, and we can go through it together.”
But Dandurand said the events of the past eight months have transformed the way Canadian citizens and businesses view the U.S.
“It’s a change in the relationship that we have currently between the state and Canada,” she said. “It’s kind of being betrayed by a friend.”
Officials on both sides of the border say the economies of Canada and the U.S. are too intertwined to abandon the relationship. But Bernadette Jordan, the consul general of Canada in Boston, said U.S. foreign policy has created a level of uncertainty that Canadian businesses will be inclined to avoid. She noted that Canada has free trade agreements with 17 other countries.
“We have focused primarily on the United States over the last number of years, decades,” Jordan said. “And I think Canadians are looking at where else they can go and where else they can sell things.”
The investment has really slowed down on both sides. And I think that’s what is probably the scariest thing.Tim Tierney, acting commissioner of the Vermont Department of Economic Development
The situation is having a profoundly negative effect on businesses like Track, Inc., an off-road and remote-access vehicle seller that has offices in Newport, Wisconsin and Quebec.
CEO Rick Desmarais said the company had laid off 30% of its employees.
It isn’t the federal policies themselves that have hurt sales so badly, he said. It’s not knowing from one week to the next what’s going to get tariffed.
“We’re just looking for stability. Settle it one way or another,” Desmarais said. “Until then our customers don’t want to buy, our suppliers don’t want to invest, so we’re stuck in the middle.”
Shanny Halle, a spokesperson for Tourism Eastern Townships, said her organization has run advertisements assuring U.S. citizens they’ll be welcome in Canada.
“We want to rebuild the bridges with the United States, with our neighbors,” Halle said.
Halle said her tourism marketing counterparts in Vermont have a tougher sell in Quebec. The number of Canadians visiting Vermont has dropped dramatically this summer.
“I think people are a little mad,” she said. “They feel like betrayed at some point.”
Tim Tierney, acting commissioner of the Vermont Department of Economic Development, said the state is finding ways to sustain critical business relationships, thanks in part to the kind of in-person networking happening on the boat.
But he acknowledged the difficulty of the path ahead.
“The investment has really slowed down on both sides,” Tierney said. “And I think that’s what is probably the scariest thing. People can’t work that way. They need to know what’s going to happen tomorrow, that’s how economics works.”
