The mounting trade war with Canada is creating a lot of uncertainty in Maine and New Brunswick.
Maine’s economy is closely aligned with the province’s economy.
While Maine sells lobster and wood products north, it imports most of its gas and heating oil from New Brunswick.
In Aroostook County, nearly 60,000 Mainers are hooked directly into the province’s electrical grid.
Canada remains a major exporter of electricity to the U.S., and there have been threats in other provinces to cut off or tax that supply.
“Well, look, it is a tool, but any action like that on energy would be an absolute last resort,” New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt said. “We know folks in Maine are already seeing the challenge of the notion of a 10 percent tariff that your President wants to put in the cost of electricity for you folks, and New Brunswick and Maine are good neighbors. We’re long-standing friends. So it’s not something I want to do. It’s not something we’re doing tomorrow.”
All of this hinges on what happens next month, when President Donald Trump’s pause on some tariffs on Canada and Mexico come to an end.
