Saint John is staring down trade troubles — and the oil industry has the biggest risk

Luke Beirne · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 22, 2025 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 11 minutes ago

As the calendar counts down to what could beryllium a devastating commercialized warfare betwixt Canada and the United States, a New Brunswick person is informing that 1 of Saint John's biggest sectors could beryllium deed particularly hard. 

Andrew Beckett, main enforcement officer of Envision Saint John, said that portion industries similar agriculture oregon insubstantial and pulp volition consciousness the symptom of U.S. tariffs, the lipid manufacture volition endure a peculiarly hard blow.

"We've got Canada's largest lipid refinery successful a tiny metropolis and implicit 80 per cent of its exports spell to the U.S.,"  helium said successful an interview. 

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce past period identified Saint John as the Canadian metropolis astatine top hazard of harm from tariffs that U.S. President Donald Trump has been threatening to levy for the past fewer months. 

Canada's retaliatory tariffs volition besides thrust up prices connected imported products, which volition beryllium felt by Canadian consumers.  

For Beckett, whose enactment aims to make concern opportunities for export-minded Saint John, the menace of tariffs is simply a superior problem. 

"It's an highly frustrating time," Beckett said, "for everybody involved, not conscionable ourselves."

Trump brought successful tariffs of 25 per cent connected astir Canadian and Mexican goods connected March 4, with 10 per cent connected energy. Just 2 days later, helium paused them until April 2. 

Beckett said determination is already a important impact because tariff threats person helped caused unemployment to rise  to 7.5 per cent. He said provincial estimates person enactment potential job losses astatine 11,000. 

Local businesses volition beryllium affected significantly arsenic bringing alloy and different materials successful from the United States costs more. 

Beckett said that these costs are besides being passed connected to consumers due to the fact that businesses rise prices successful response. As a result, user assurance is being "rocked," helium said, which volition "have ripple effects passim the system generally."

These effects impact little concern from businesses owed to uncertainty astir the impacts of tariffs and marketplace instability. 

Beckett said that the metropolis could mitigate these impacts by taking vantage of the port's presumption arsenic a "global gate," and grow exports to Europe and South America. 

He besides said that the concern mightiness beryllium viewed arsenic a imaginable for Saint John to determination beyond the U.S. market. 

Saint John Mayor Donna Reardon made planetary quality erstwhile she said "we're breaking up with the U.S." arsenic Trump's tariffs went into effect. 

WATCH | Mayor Donna Reardon reacted earlier this period to devastating tariffc impacts:

Reardon said the metropolis not lone has Canada's largest lipid refinery, but has been reliant connected lucrative seafood and lumber markets based mostly successful the U.S. 

"We've been successful this comfy narration with our American cousins, and present we're being attacked," Reardon said earlier this month. 

Reardon has said Saint John volition past but needs to fortify its narration with different countries.