N.B. Premier Susan Holt ready to help Ottawa hit back at the U.S. ‘where it hurts’

FREDERICTON – New Brunswick’s premier says she’s ready to work with the prime minister to hit the U.S. where it hurts.

Susan Holt told reporters Monday that her government is working with Ottawa on retaliatory tariffs after Canada-U.S. trade talks broke down Friday evening. She said New Brunswick wants Canada’s response to have the highest impact on the U.S. and the smallest impact on the province and the country.

“We need to see something that is going to hit (the U.S.) where it hurts and have an impact,” Holt told reporters Monday. “And then we are going to need to provide supports on the federal side, and on the provincial side, to counterbalance the negative impact of those tariffs at home.”

Prime Minister Mark Carney has said Canada is planning dollar-for-dollar tariffs in response to the U.S.’s new 50 per cent duties on $28 billion worth of Canadian products that took effect when talks between the two nations collapsed. Canada’s reciprocal tariffs, the details of which have not been announced, are scheduled to begin next month.

Holt cautioned that any changes to the province’s energy exports would be a serious tool not to be used lightly, noting that New Brunswick supplies parts of northern Maine with the electricity to run hospitals and other public services. She said her province also buys power from Maine.

Carney has said the U.S. added terms near the end of negotiations that would have restricted Canada’s protections of language and culture, one of the reasons Canada broke off negotiations. Holt applauded the move as the premier of the only officially bilingual province in Canada. 

“There are some things we will never trade away as New Brunswickers … our language and culture and identity that is wrapped around the French language, the Acadian history, that’s critical to who we are as New Brunswickers and not something up for negotiation at a trade table with the president of the United States,” she said.

The premier said the Trump administration’s new tariffs will impact about $112 million worth of New Brunswick exports, about 0.8 per cent of what the province sends to the U.S. 

She said initial estimates are that about 500 New Brunswick jobs could be threatened, though the government will work to soften the blow. Holt said certain sectors, such as forestry, manufacturing and beer brewing will disproportionately feel the pinch. 

The premier said Crown corporation Opportunities New Brunswick has a flexible suite of tools that can offer relief, including retraining support, income support and loans for companies. 

Holt said the province has already taken steps toward buying Canadian in its procurement policies and encouraged citizens to do the same with their own purchases. She said the U.S. trade aggression is another example of why Canada needs to bring down its own internal trade barriers. She also pledged to work with other provinces on issues like labour mobility and energy independence. 

Holt’s Liberal government tabled a $1.39-billion deficit budget in March, the largest deficit in provincial history. The Finance Department projected a $1.3-billion shortfall in the 2027-28 fiscal year and a $1.26-billion deficit the following year.

Holt said Monday she expects the tariffs will drag down the provincial economy and add to the deficit. 

— By Devin Stevens in Halifax.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 24, 2026.