NEWPORT — Track Inc., a leading distributor of snow grooming equipment, straddles the U.S.-Canada border, so it doubly fears being caught in the middle of a trade war between the two nations.
With offices in Newport and Richmond, Quebec — as well as one in Wisconsin — the company provides snowcats and other utility vehicles made in both countries to ski mountains and trail systems throughout North America.
“50% of our products are made in the United States, 50% are imported from Europe and Canada,” said Mike Desmarais, owner and CEO of the company, speaking at a roundtable convened in Newport Tuesday by Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt.
“What’s going to happen,” he said, “when we can’t sell the Canadian and the European products in the United States, when we can’t sell the American products in Canada?”
Desmarais was one of about two dozen business leaders and officials from both Vermont and Quebec that came to Newport to vent their frustration with the Trump administration’s on-again off-again trade war with Canada.
A dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada, Desmarais was among the many attendees who said President Donald Trump’s attempts to drive a wedge between the two countries wasn’t just bad for business, but personally upsetting.
“We can’t separate the two countries,” he said. “We’re one people. We’re one history.”
Officials and members of the business communities in both Vermont and Quebec have been on edge since early February, when Trump first announced sweeping tariffs on imports from the U.S’s closest trade partner.
Although Trump has since postponed most of those levies, which are now expected to take effect on April 2, the climate of uncertainty created by his volatile trade policies has caused widespread consternation among businesses attempting to adjust to the rising prices and supply chain disruptions that would result from the tariffs.
The president has also inflamed tensions between the two nations with repeated suggestions that the U.S. should take over its northern neighbor, sparking outrage among Canadians, who have begun to boycott American goods and cancel trips to the U.S.
“To speak bluntly, I am absolutely horrified at these tariffs,” Welch told attendees. “I am appalled at what our president is saying about Canada in reference to ‘a 51st state.’ There’s no place for that.”
Speaking at Tuesday’s event, Marie-Claude Bibeau, who represents the Compton-Stanstead district in Canada’s House of Commons, said the frustration in Canada over Trump’s rhetoric was “without precedent.”
“The threat is over and above tariffs right now,” she said. “It’s a threat against our sovereignty, and if it was a joke for the first 24 hours, it’s not a joke anymore. We take it very seriously.”
Canadian and Vermont businesses have faced collateral damage from those rising tensions.
Denis LaRue, president of J.A. LaRue, a snowblower manufacturer based in Quebec City, was among the many attendees who said a trade war would drive up costs unsustainably.
The company makes snowblowers with parts from the U.S., Mexico and Canada, and Larue said if tariffs take effect in April, price increases “will kill our industry.”
Facing similar price increases, Vermont industries have also had to contend with boycotts from Canadians, which have upended a tourism and hospitality sector that relies heavily on visitors from the north.
Several attendees — including representatives from the Jay Peak ski resort and Hill Farmstead Brewery, among others — reported they had seen a steep drop in visitors from Canada in recent weeks.
Abby Long, executive director of Kingdom Trails, which oversees a network of trails for recreational use in the Northeast Kingdom, said Canadian users told the organization they were canceling trips to Vermont indefinitely.
“They express their love for Kingdom Trails and our community, but they go on to share that they will not be visiting until our political environment has shifted,” Long said.
An outspoken critic of the tariff policy, Welch promised attendees he would continue to oppose the president’s tariff policy as much as he could in Washington.
“I am absolutely all in on sticking up for maintaining the good relationships that we’ve had,” Welch said.
Read the story on VTDigger here: Canadian and Vermont business leaders commiserate at Newport roundtable .