‘There will be no winners.’ Atlantic Canada braces for impact of U.S. tariffs

Dwan Street (left), president of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers Union in Newfoundland and Labrador and Jeff Loder, executive director of the Association of Seafood Producers, attend a press conference about the impact of Trump's tariffs on the province's fisheries, in St.John's on Monday, Feb.3, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sarah Smellie

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — The looming trade war between Canada and the United States raised alarm throughout the Atlantic provinces on Monday as leaders calculated the economic toll of hefty tariffs threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, the executive director of the Association of Seafood Producers said the province’s lucrative crab fishery is in jeopardy, and he’s not sure if it will open as expected next month.

“I cannot sit here today and say there will be a fishery,” Jeff Loder told a news conference in St. John’s. “This is a serious situation .... We’re going to do everything we can to have a fishery, but we need to be prepared for whatever transpires.”

The tariffs are the biggest threat to the province’s seafood industry since the 1992 cod moratorium, which wiped out about 30,000 jobs and a centuries-old way of life in Canada’s easternmost province, Loder added.

On Saturday, Trump signed executive orders calling for 25 per cent tariffs aimed at Mexico and Canada, which include a lower 10 per cent tariff on imported Canadian energy. He also added a 10 per cent tariff on Chinese goods.

The 25 per cent tariff is widely expected to have a huge impact on Atlantic Canada’s pivotal seafood industry.

About 96 per cent of the crab caught in Newfoundland and Labrador is shipped to the U.S., said Dwan Street, president of the union representing inshore fishers and fish plant workers. Crab exports were worth about $761 million in 2022, accounting for more than half of the province’s $1.4-billion fishing sector.

“The fishery is the lifeblood of rural Newfoundland and Labrador,” Street said. “There are also adjacent industries. You’re looking at the grocery store, the gas station, the trucking industry. The effects trickle down. It’s not just jobs at risk, it’s coastal communities at risk.”

According to the latest trade data, Atlantic Canadian exporters sold $26 billion worth of goods to the United States in 2023. Key exports include refined petroleum, shellfish and fish, crude oil, tires and rubber products, forest products and processed potatoes and other foods.

Meanwhile, a group that represents energy producers, distributors and consumers in Atlantic Canada says the trade war could have a major impact on the fully integrated energy system that links the region with New England.

The non-profit Atlantica Centre for Energy says 80 per cent of the vehicles on the road in New England tank up with fuel refined in Canada. As well, New Brunswick’s Crown-owned electric utility, NB Power, has long been the primary source of electricity for northern Maine, which is not directly connected to the U.S. electricity grid.

“New England depends on Canada for its energy needs with $10.2 billion worth of fuel oil, natural gas and electricity imported to the region from Canada each year,” said a statement from the centre, which represents Irving Oil, NB Power, Nova Scotia Power, Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline, and several other energy-related businesses and organizations.

New Brunswick and P.E.I. are among the Canadian provinces most dependent upon trade with the United States. More than 90 per cent of New Brunswick’s exports are destined to the U.S., about half of which is refined petroleum products from the Irving Oil refinery in Saint John.

“This trade war makes zero sense,” said Michelle Robichaud, the centre’s president. “Consumers and businesses on both sides of the border will see higher energy prices and a step backwards in the energy security we all rely on .... There will be no winners.”

Robichaud said tariffs imposed by the United States and retaliation by Canada will disproportionately affect the entire northeast region on both sides of the border.

In New Brunswick, Premier Susan Holt said she directed the public service to temporarily stop signing deals with U.S. companies, except for critical goods and services that cannot be immediately replaced by another supplier.

Her government wants to remove barriers on interprovincial trade to increase sales of New Brunswick products across the country, she said. New Brunswick is also joining other provinces in removing American alcohol from the shelves of its liquor stores.

American products will be taken off the shelves at Newfoundland and Labrador liquor stores at midnight, Premier Andrew Furey said.

“This attack by the president of the United States is an attack on our identity,” Furey told reporters. “It’s an attack on our Canadian values, and it’s an attack that we have to stand strong and united against.”

In Nova Scotia, the executive director of the Nova Scotia Seafood Alliance said it felt strange to be preparing for tariffs imposed by such a close ally.

“We ship well over 40 per cent of our wild-caught fish and seafood from Nova Scotia to our trading partner to the south,” Kris Vascotto said in an interview. “It’s a relationship that has existed for decades, so this is a major disruption.”

Vascotto said the industry is looking to strengthen relationships with other trade partners, particularly in Asia and Europe, and he said the impact of American tariffs on Nova Scotia fish processors would depend on how long they remained in place.

“This will provide an opportunity to find other markets, which might be willing to pay more for Canadian products,” he said. “(But) there’s a lot of uncertainty.”

In P.E.I., the body that represents the province’s $1.3-billion potato industry says about half of the Island’s entire crop is sold to American markets.

“These unfair and punitive tariffs will have a negative impact on Prince Edward Island potato farms and farm businesses and will raise the cost of food for our American neighbours,” the Prince Edward Island Potato Board said in a statement, adding that the trade action “endangers a long-standing relationship.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2025.

-- With files from Michael MacDonald and Lyndsay Armstrong in Halifax and Hina Alam in Fredericton.