Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey meets Canadian officials over Trump's trade war

Matthew Medsger, Boston Herald on Mar 17, 2025

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BOSTON — Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey met with a pair of her Canadian counterparts on Saturday to discuss the longstanding relationship between the Bay State and our neighbors to the north amid a simmering trade war stemming from President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.

Healey met over the weekend with Prince Edward Island Premier Rob Lantz and New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt. Here office shared a picture after the meeting on Sunday.

According to the governor’s staff, the meeting — which did not appear on Healey’s public schedule — occurred while the pair of Canadian officials were in town for the 2025 Seafood Expo North America, and focused on Trump and his trade war.

“They discussed the impact of Trump’s tariffs and the strong economic partnership between Massachusetts and Canada,” Healey’s spokesperson, Karissa Hand, told the Herald.

Asked if the trio would have met but for Trump’s tariffs, Hand said that the Expo led to the meeting and that the “governor always appreciates the opportunity to connect with her Canadian partners.”

Healey wrote Sunday that she, Lantz, and Holt had met for a “productive conversation” regarding “Trump’s tax on consumers, and working together to strengthen all our economies.”

“Canada and Massachusetts exchange everything from energy to lumber to cars. Donald Trump’s tariffs are going to make it all more expensive,” she wrote.

Healey’s meeting with her Canadian colleagues comes as U.S. consumers find themselves stuck in the middle of a trade war that is still taking shape. Tariffs against Canada, the nation’s second largest trade partner behind Mexico, were first announced in early February, but have since been delayed, reinstated, and then delayed again.

Another set of tariffs, 25% on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S., went into effect on March 12.

Trump’s threat of 25% duties is currently due to come into effect on April 2, and is a response, the president says, to Canada’s inability to prevent fentanyl from crossing into the U.S. or control southward illegal immigration.

Tariffs established by the Canadian government on $20.8 billion worth of U.S. goods in response to Trump’s actions, are scheduled to start April 1.

Newly elected Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is scheduled to head to Europe this week to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer. According to Carney, Canada “must diversify our trade partners and strengthen our security in so doing.”

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