The Vermont Legislature’s latest foray into international relations has become the source of domestic strife within the Statehouse.
As President Donald Trump’s erratic tariffs and bellicose rhetoric fray U.S. ties with key foreign trade partners, Vermont lawmakers are looking for ways to build direct relationships with countries across the globe.
The House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development will soon vote on a bill that would allow Vermont to enter into as many as eight “sister state” relationships with foreign countries or cities. The proposal, modeled on programs in other states, seeks to boost economic activity and promote cultural goodwill by fostering exchanges in business, education, environment and the arts.
Jericho Rep. Edye Graning, the committee’s Democratic vice-chair, is part of a working group that started developing the sister-state model in 2024. She said events over the past year have lent urgency to the effort.
“We have international connections, and we want to retain those,” Graning said.
The bill has come under intensifying scrutiny, however, after some lawmakers discovered that it would repeal the Vermont-Ireland Trade Commission established by the Legislature last year.
“As we are embarking into a place where the divide between America and Europe seems to be growing, it’s not good business.”Rep. Conor Casey
In an unusually heated committee hearing last week, Rep. Conor Casey, a Montpelier Democrat who led the push for the commission, did not veil his contempt for the proposed repeal.
“As we are embarking into a place where the divide between America and Europe seems to be growing, it’s not good business,” said Casey, who spent much of his childhood in Ireland. “This is an important program. I think it’s catching momentum. And I think it’d be an absolute pity if we poured water on it at a time when it’s catching fire.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, Vermont is the third most Irish state in the nation, with a higher percentage of residents claiming ancestry than any but New Hampshire and Massachusetts.
They include lawmakers such as Brattleboro Rep. Mollie Sullivan Burke, who said she was “disturbed” by the proposed repeal.
“Personally, I don’t see why the two can’t coexist,” she said.
Graning said she wants Ireland to be Vermont’s first sister-state relationship. But she thinks the state needs administrative conformity to do things “in a way that is effective and efficient.” Competing governance structures, she said, add complexity and cost.
She’s also raised concerns about the funding mechanism for the Ireland-Vermont Trade Commission. Its budget would come from private donations with almost no restrictions on expenditures. Graning likened it to a “slush fund,” a characterization with which Casey took umbrage.
“It’s not like people boozing up on trips or anything,” he said.
Sister-state agreements, as contemplated in the pending legislation, would be housed in the Agency of Commerce and Community Development. They would be funded privately as well, under the auspices of a nonprofit.
“Networking is a currency, and that currency is really lucrative right now, if it’s in the right hands."Maria Walsh, one of Ireland's representatives in the European Parliament
Maria Walsh, who represents Ireland in the European Parliament, toured the Statehouse with Casey on Friday.
Walsh said she sees enormous promise in the Vermont-Ireland Trade Commission. She said Ireland is forging similar agreements with dozens of other states as part of an economic and diplomatic end run around the Trump administration.
“Networking is a currency, and that currency is really lucrative right now, if it’s in the right hands, moving in the right direction. And for me, that’s what this trade commission is really all about,” Walsh said.
Pro-commission lawmakers have already begun taking their case to the Vermont Senate. And they’ve found a receptive ally in Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Baruth.
“I would not under any circumstances go along with repeal,” Baruth said Friday.
The argument against competing governance structures might have made sense last year, he said. But now that the commission is moving forward — the Senate recently named its first appointee — Baruth said Vermont needs to honor its commitment to the deal.
