SAINT JOHN — In his alleyway shop in uptown Saint John, N.B., Curtis Dionne dips molten crystal into some red and white powder, then brings it back to the furnace to mix.
Like his glass artwork, his custom furnace has crossed the Canada-U.S. border — first as a honey-smoker for meat in Maine, then as a holding tank for maple sap in New Brunswick.
Finally, he drips the glowing-hot glass into a maple leaf mold and repeats the process.
Since January, Dionne’s shop has been pumping out dozens of red and white maple leaf pendants, trying to tap into the recent wave of national pride to compensate for his losses as a result of the trade war with the United States.
His sales south of border — which made up 20 per cent of his business — have dried up due to the uncertainty over tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
One of Dionne’s biggest customers is Dollywood, the Tennessee theme park co-owned by legendary country artist Dolly Parton.
“We were expecting them to maybe even double their order from last year, which was 700 pieces,” Dionne said, adding the park has been noncommittal about placing a fresh order.
“Part of the reason is when you order 700 pieces, you don’t know if it’s going to be shipped today and just below the tariffs, or if there’s going to be tariffs next week, or if there were going be tariffs last month, right?”
Dionne’s plight reflects a larger problem in Saint John — the city is the most vulnerable in Canada to trade friction with the U.S. because of its reliance on the American market for oil, lumber and seafood exports, according to data released in February by the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
The local Irving Oil refinery — the largest in Canada, with a workforce of 1,600 people — processes 320,000 barrels of crude a day and sends 80 per cent of it to the U.S.
Canadian oil exports were hit with a 10 per cent U.S. tariff last month. Irving Oil passed that cost on to its American customers.
The company declined a request for an interview.
“I think more so the anxiety would be around the loss of jobs and how that’s going to affect the economy,” said local small business owner Jill Laskey Parry.
“Because obviously with people losing their jobs, there will be far less disposable income. The increase in poverty will be astronomical. People will be losing their homes.”
Trump’s trade war has become one of the key ballot box questions for voters ahead of election day on April 28.
Liberal Leader Mark Carney paused his campaign on Wednesday to deal with Trump’s latest round of tariffs. In a campaign video, he promised agricultural supply management would be off the table in any negotiations with the U.S.
On Wednesday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre gave his most detailed explanation to date of his plans to handle the Trump administration. He called for an early renegotiation of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement ahead of its planned revision in 2026, and a pause on all tariffs while those negotiations continue.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has rejected the idea of an early CUSMA renegotiation and suggested Trump must be held to the terms of the existing deal.
“I’m really pleased to see that multiple party leaders have talked about trade diversification, the need for port and marine infrastructure as being major gateways,” said Craig Estabrooks, the CEO of Port Saint John, Atlantic Canada’s largest port based on cargo volume.
He said the port is well-positioned to serve as a gateway to European markets if Canada looks elsewhere for new trade partners — as all party leaders have promised to do at this point in the election campaign.
“We do have a lot of imports and exports going to Europe right now. We see it as a very important market. So any time during an election campaign or from a policy standpoint we’re talking about trade diversification, markets and gateways, it’s a happy day for ports.”
And while Dionne agrees with the need for market diversification, he said Canada shouldn’t impose retaliatory tariffs in response to Trump’s actions.
“I just think there’s a lot of ways that we can combat it without having to penalize Canadian businesses even more,” he said.
Dionne sources his supplies from Europe but gets them shipped through the U.S because of a licensing agreement. So he’s getting hit on inputs even as his sales drop.
“We don’t have a choice. It could take us years to create a new supply chain and we don’t know how long this is going to be in place. We could spend a lot of money and effort in creating a new supply chain, and then all of a sudden, the tariffs are gone,” Dionne said.
“We’re not against the American people, we’re not against doing business with the partners we have there that we’ve worked with for decades. But definitely becoming less dependent on the U.S., I think, should be the primary focus of battling tariffs.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 3, 2025.
By Nick Murray
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