Newport and Stanstead mayors keep talking as border trade drops

Newport Mayor Rick Ufford-Chase printed bumper stickers reading "Canada, on vous respecte" and carries one whenever he drives north into Québec. He started the project after Canadian travelers cut back on trips to Vermont following tariff increases. "It's the lack of respect that really is driving the current crisis," Ufford-Chase said. He took office in March 2025.

Canadian credit card spending in Vermont dropped by nearly half in 2025 and began recovering this spring and summer before trade talks collapsed in August. U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 50 percent tariffs on hundreds of Canadian goods. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney answered with matching tariffs and said Canada will work more closely with the European Union.

Stanstead Mayor Jody Stone and Ufford-Chase speak more often now than they did before the dispute. Stanstead shares a water system with Derby Line through the International Water Company. "When this stuff is over, we want to continue to be great neighbors," Stone said. He stopped buying gas and eating out in Vermont but took his family to Maine on vacation.

Jay Peak Resort president Steve Wright posted a message in late August for the Canadians who ski there, saying they are "part of this place." Nearly 6,000 emails arrived in four days. Wright spoke on September 1 at a roundtable held by U.S. Sen. Peter Welch. "Last year, Canadians were disappointed. They were disillusioned. They were sad," Wright said. "This year, around trade policies, they're angry."

On Canusa Street in Derby, American and Canadian houses sit across a two-line road from each other for about a third of a mile. A checkpoint sits at the end of the street for anyone crossing. The communities share water and sewer lines, and firefighters from each side help the other when asked. Lynn Rublee, who runs a bed-and-breakfast, said, "A lot of us feel we're one community here."

The Colby-Curtis Museum in Stanstead opened a border exhibit in June. Director Samuel Gaudreau-Lalande said the theme was picked in 2023. Records show Canadian women once crossed into Vermont to give birth and the Stanstead doctor held licenses in both countries. "They didn't think of the border as a border," Gaudreau-Lalande said. Trump won every Vermont border town in 2024.