FREDERICTON — New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt says Canada’s trade war with the U.S. has not reached a point where her province would stop supplying electricity to Maine.
“It would be an exceptionally serious move to do that, and so we would have to be in a position a lot further down the road than where we are in this trade war today,” Holt said Tuesday at an unrelated news conference.
She and other premiers have faced questions in recent days about what moves they could make in response to a new wave of U.S. levies on Canadian products worth billions of dollars and ranging from hockey sticks to alcohol.
The Liberal premier dismissed the question of whether her province should cut off power to tens of thousands of Maine customers as “hypothetical” and only appropriate if the situation was “really bad.”
“That’s an extremely serious measure to turn the power off to a community in northern Maine that have been our friends and neighbours for generations and who need that power to operate things like their hospital,” she said.
However, Holt said her province could stop exporting “energy products that help heat and cool homes and power cars all through New England.”
New Brunswick exports nearly all of its $9.3 billion worth of refined petroleum products to the United States, the province’s largest energy export by value, according to government data.
Those products, primarily from refiner Irving Oil, are used for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel.
Meanwhile, the federal government said Tuesday it will increase tariffs on U.S. steel and aluminum products to 50 per cent, up from 25 per cent, in retaliation for the U.S. imposing tariffs last week on $27.6 billion of Canadian goods.
It stressed Canada was not targeting any new products beyond ones the U.S. has already hit.
Starting Sept. 8, the countermeasures will also include 50 per cent tariffs on clothing and apparel, and a 25 per cent levy on seafood, appliances, dairy products and certain steel and aluminum derivatives products.
A 15 per cent tariff will apply to items including hand tools, air conditioners and forklifts.
Holt said Tuesday there were other ways her government could pressure the United States.
She suggested that her government could stop Americans from participating in moose hunting and salmon fishing, and added her province’s lobster exports to the U.S. could also be used as leverage.
At a meeting of the premiers in Prince Edward Island last month, Holt left the door open to leveraging New Brunswick’s energy exports in the trade war.
Like many other provinces, New Brunswick last year removed U.S. alcohol from its liquor stores and banned U.S. companies from bidding on provincial procurement opportunities.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said earlier this week he was open to applying surcharges to the electricity his province sends to Michigan, New York and Minnesota, or the possibility of cutting off electricity to those 1.5 million customers.
Ford toned down the rhetoric Tuesday while pushing for a “Fortress North America,” in which Canada increases trade in electricity, critical minerals and cars.
As well, Holt said her government would look at whether its joint provincial-federal $13.7-million tariff relief fund announced in May needs a top-up in the next provincial budget.
“We’re going to be there to support companies as they need it,” she said.
Holt on Monday said she’s working with Ottawa on retaliatory tariffs and supported hitting the U.S. “where it hurts.”
Meanwhile, in Newfoundland and Labrador, Opposition parties called on the Progressive Conservative government to reconvene a provincial roundtable on tariffs and trade.
Premier Tony Wakeham said in response that he has contacted key industry players and will review federal supports for workers announced Tuesday.
“At a time of uncertainty, Newfoundland and Labrador will continue to stand with Team Canada as we defend our economic interests and advocate for a stable and constructive trading relationship with our closest neighbour and largest trading partner,” Wakeham said Tuesday in a release.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 25, 2026.
-- With files from Sarah Smellie in St. John’s.
Eli Ridder, The Canadian Press
