Looking Back: Canadians Grapple with the Wide Impacts of U.S. Tariffs

0:01Today on State of the World, Canadians grapple with the wide impact of U. tariffs.

0:12You're listening to State of the World from NPR. We bring you the day's most vital international stories up close where they're happening. I'm Greg Dixon. As we say goodbye to 2025, our international reporters are looking back at some of the stories they covered in the last year. Jackie Northam is NPR's international affairs correspondent. Jackie, what was your most memorable story of 2025? Greg, it was a story I did out of Canada, out of the Eastern Maritime province of Nova Scotia. I went up there to talk to some lobstermen, and really what it was looking at was the whole idea about President Trump's tariffs.

0:49And this is such a big, unwieldy kind of subject. I think a lot of people have a hard time getting their heads around, you know, what it means to them and, you know, to the economy, certainly, and foreign relations. And so that's why I wanted to go up to Canada because the lobstermen up in Canada have a very close affinity to the lobstermen or people in Maine, you know, on the northeast of the U.S. I've never been to that part of Canada. I'm a Canadian, and so that was sort of a little incentive to go. Where it was in Nova Scotia was a very southwest tip. It was a really interesting slice of life.

1:23You know, it's a very, very small community, but lobsters are really the heart of the place. If something happens to this industry, the community as a whole suffers. And what I found lived up to what I hoped it would be. You know, I got some very broad accents, just some laid back lobstermen. You know, they roll with the good times as they roll with bad times. And I think I hope what it did for our listeners is to just give them a better sense of how tariffs are affecting people and certainly relations between countries. Right. Tariffs on the receiving end. And I think you went in April right before an election in Canada.

2:01Oh, that's right. Yes. And in fact, because of the tariffs, primarily because of the tariffs and President Trump's pressure on Canada, you know, suggesting he was going to make it a 51st state and various other things. It was a big election and it brought into power Mark Carney, who's now prime minister of Canada. But tariffs certainly had something to do with Carney's success in the elections because people felt that he was the type of person who could deal with Donald Trump. He's very economically savvy. He was the Bank of Governor of England. He was a Bank of Governor of Canada. A long history on the global economic scene.

2:36So the tariffs, yes. And that became part of the story in the long run about how these tariffs are affecting countries and people. All right. Well, let's listen to your report from Nova Scotia, Canada in April. When the weather turns nasty, lobster fishermen here in Clarks Harbour, off the southwestern tip of Nova Scotia, gather at what they call the barn to chat over coffee and play cards. There's no use going out in weather like this. Too rough. Seeds is too big. When the weight gets high, lobsters will not move. You just waste the time. The barn belongs to Marty Atwood. He's been a lobster fisherman for more than three decades.

3:15He spends slow days like this building new lobster traps. When I'm not fishing, I'm in here building stock to go fishing. Atwood grew up in Clarks Harbour. This town of about 800 people would seem to be far removed from the turmoil of President Trump's tariffs. But lobsters were among the goods to be hit with 25 % tax when Trump announced his first round of tariffs on Canada in February. Atwood said it was a huge concern. Right now, lobster industry drives everything in this community. If you take the prices away, you take the lobstering away, you take the whole economy away. It would be crippling.

3:52Trump later reversed the decision, excluding any products like lobsters that fall under an existing free trade agreement. But he has kept levies on things like aluminum, steel and energy. Atwood's father, Russell, fears lobsters could get hit again because he says Trump is erratic. He always got this in the back of your mind, what day does he get up and has a bad day and says, I'm putting 25 % tariff on it. So yes, it's a big worry. Canada's lobster industry was already facing 25 % tariffs by China in retaliation for Ottawa placing levies on Chinese electric vehicles. A U.S. tariff would force Canadian lobster companies to dramatically change their business.

4:35This is where we store the lobsters. Sean Sears, the owner of W. Sears Seafoods, reaches into a large tank of bubbling cold water and pulls out a glistening lobster, its claws held tight with a thick rubber band. That one's like a two and a half pounder, so not a real big one. The smaller lobsters are actually better eating. At high season, Sears tanks hold about 250 ,000 pounds of fresh lobster. He ships them to companies in the U.S. It's a highly integrated industry and both sides would have to pay taxes if Trump reimposes tariffs and Canada retaliates. Sears said he would have to look for new customers.

5:16Different parts of Asia, the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, and just try to expand the domestic market. The uncertainty and worry here in Clarks Harbour is a microcosm of how tariffs are playing out across the rest of Canada. 160 miles further east along the coast in Nova Scotia's capital Halifax, Trump's tariffs were met with disbelief, anger and resentment. One firm in particular over a weekend believed they lost around$25 million worth of business and were facing layoffs of about 170 people. Mayor Andy Fillmore says the economic punch was immediate. Just from the whisper of this possibility, it changed the business dynamics.

5:58People lost confidence, contracts went away. Fillmore says many people in Nova Scotia have close relations with the U.S. And that's what hurt. This seemed like friends and family giving us a swat on the nose, completely unexpected and quite eye-wateringly shocking. But it's more than just the tariffs. There was Trump's threat to turn Canada into the 51st state and making fun of then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Out of that sprang a nationwide movement to avoid buying American products. Canadians are cancelling trips south of the border and there's a resurgence of national pride in Canada. We are a good neighbour who will still be there for our big brother, but we don't need you anymore, America.

6:44A steady rain outside of Halifax didn't deter people at a recent elbows-up rally. That's a hockey term, now a popular catchphrase meaning ready to fight. On stage, comedian Sean Majumder, who recently moved back to Canada after 20 years in Los Angeles, didn't hold back. We should ghost America for a little bit. Those who braved the rain came out to make a point, like Maggie Simpson. Like many people here, just a feeling of wanting to stand in solidarity for Canada's sovereignty and the things that we believe in. But with an increasing independence comes a recognition that Canada has leaned too heavily on the U.S.

7:23for its security. We've been very fortunate to be one of the most geographically secure countries in the world. And now we find ourselves as being the most geographically vulnerable. Robert Hewish is a professor of social sciences at Dalhousie University in Halifax. It's not just Donald Trump is saying, oh, that border should be redrawn. It's also recognizing we are quite vulnerable in the Arctic to Russian aggression. So we do have work to do there for sure. Back at the barn in Clarks Harbour, fisherman Marty Atwood is feeling philosophical about Trump's tariffs as he repairs his lobster pots.

8:00We're kind in this area, take things as they come, so we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. As will Canada's next Prime Minister. Whoever wins will have to wrangle Trump and his unpredictable tariff policy. Jackie Northam, NPR News, Clarks Harbour, Nova Scotia. That was NPR's Jackie Northam reporting last April.

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