The U.S. and Canada are rushing into a trade war, with President Donald Trump threatening new tariffs against a variety of Canadian goods, including steel, starting in January. Just a few days ago, the U.S. enacted a separate 50% tariff on Canadian goods including agricultural products, prompting Canada’s prime minister to promise a reciprocal response: tariffs on U.S. steel and dairy starting in September.
For almost 34 years, Garry Douglas has served as president of the North Country Chamber of Commerce based in Plattsburgh (which he calls “Montreal’s U.S. suburb”). Douglas told Capital Tonight that it’s painful to watch an economic relationship, decades in the making, become so strained.
“Because we’ve been so connected with Canada, particularly Quebec, more than any other place along the entire frontier, people are upset about it, unhappy about it, unsupportive of what the U.S. is continuing to do towards Canada in terms of tariffs and other conduct,” he said referencing President Trump’s rhetoric around making Canada the 51st state.
Canada is New York state’s largest and most important trading partner, accounting for billions of dollars in trade annually. New York imports $21 billion in goods from Canada every year, and exports $16 billion in goods to Canada.
When asked if New Yorkers should care about the $5 billion trade imbalance that benefits Canada, Douglas said no.
“The U.S. and Canada do not have, I repeat, do not have a traditional trade relationship. We have a traditional trade relationship with Bulgaria and Thailand, not with Canada,” Douglas said. “Canada and the U.S., for half a century and longer, have been purposely building a fully integrated economy in which we make things together.”
Douglas insists that numbers don’t tell the entire story and that trade between the two nations is not out of balance.
“Isn’t it an economic asset for us to have access to cost effective hydroelectricity and national gas and oil from a proximate next door secure neighbor?” he asked rhetorically. “We’re shooting ourselves in the foot.”
According to Douglas, one of the most heartbreaking aspects of the trade war is that it was made personal in part thanks to comments by the president. In recent months, Trump has called Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney a clown on social media and suggested that the U.S. might rename Lake Ontario “Lake America.”
Canadian tourism to the U.S. dropped by 21%, according to the New York state comptroller.
The North Country Chamber of Commerce, which Douglas leads, created an award-winning video campaign that airs across much of Canada in response to the drop in tourism. It’s not meant as marketing, but rather “sincere messaging,” Douglas said.
Since the campaign was launched, there’s been a 10% improvement in cross-border car counts this summer compared with 2025.
“It could take years to repair (this relationship),” Douglas told Capital Tonight.
