Businesses call for easier interprovincial trade amid Trump’s tariff threat

Many businesses and politicians in the Maritimes are speaking against inter-provincial trade tariffs.

Some local businesses are preparing to pivot and possibly boost trade across the country as U.S. President Donald Trump looks to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canada.

The wine industry is among those hoping for change when it comes to interprovincial trade.

“All summer long we have so many visitors from across the country. They come and visit the wineries, there is that genuine interest,” says Domaine de Grande Pré Winery CEO Beatrice Stutz.

“They try the wines and they love them. They go back home and they can’t get them and we’re not allowed to ship them.”

That’s because some interprovincial trade barriers prohibit the exchange of certain products, like wine, since the rules don’t apply in every jurisdiction.

“Nova Scotia, for instance, has opened their borders to receive wine from all across the country, but not all the provinces have that reciprocal, so Ontario for instance, we’re not allowed to ship,” Stutz says.

“The fact that we cannot ship freely across the country is frustrating.”

It’s something Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston would like to see change. He’s calling for greater co-operation north of the border to soften the blow of 25 per cent tariffs south of it.

“That means looking at our own internal trade policies across the country and just asking ourselves simple questions like, why it is so hard to send a bottle of wine from one province to another?” says Houston.

With Trump pushing tariff talk as early as Feb. 1, Stutz would like to see the provinces move quickly to reduce trade barriers here at home.

“We are Nova Scotia first, but we are Canadian, and being able to sell our products across the country would be a game-changer,” she says.

“I think we can strengthen our own industry and economy by opening up the interprovincial borders and make Nova Scotia and Canada stronger that way.”

It seems the idea has momentum. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the premiers talked internal trade during meetings held earlier this week.