Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / Vermont tourism decline 'basically 100' from Canadian boycott - U.S. senator

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Vermont tourism decline 'basically 100' from Canadian boycott - U.S. senator · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, with just two weeks until Trump's next terras do hit,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Prime Minister Mark Karney is still working to secure a
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: beneficial deal for Canada.
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  Speaker 2: We're engaged in those negotiations to look to find a
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  Speaker 2: mutually beneficial solution, and we're only going to accept a
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: solution that works for Canadians. We're going to focus now
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: on building building towards an agreement if an agreement is possible.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: But while Trump's teriff's aim to harm Canada's economy, they're
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: also hurting US states who rely on Canadians. Stat can
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  Speaker 1: is reporting Canadians spent three point five billion dollars less
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  Speaker 1: on travel to the United States in twenty twenty five
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  Speaker 1: compared to the year before, and Canadians also made seven
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: point one million fewer trips across the border last year.
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  Speaker 1: US states are feeling the pinch of losing Canadian tourists,
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  Speaker 1: including Vermont, who says its tourism has decreased by forty percent.
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  Speaker 1: Peter Welch is a Democratic Senator for Vermont, So thank
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  Speaker 1: you for coming on the show. I appreciate it. We
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  Speaker 1: mentioned there that forty percent drop off in tourism to Vermont.
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  Speaker 1: How much of that is directly tied to Canadians not
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  Speaker 1: traveling to estate.
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  Speaker 3: Basically one hundred percent.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, that's what our main tourism is, the Canadians.
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  Speaker 3: And it's two things.
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  Speaker 4: One obviously an enormous economic hit to us on tourism,
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  Speaker 4: but we also are You're our biggest trading partner by far.
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  Speaker 4: That's true for thirty four states in the US. But
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  Speaker 4: we export six hundred million dollars to Canada. Two billion
• 1:35
  Speaker 4: come in from Canada, and that helps us in our
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  Speaker 4: own manufacturing. But you know, there's another part of this.
• 1:42
  Speaker 4: It's really heartbreaking for us in Vermont. It's the emotional
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: rupture we have. Many of our bed and breakfast are
• 1:51
  Speaker 4: ski areas they look forward to Canadian families coming back
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  Speaker 4: and many of them would always come on a certain holiday,
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: and there is a lot of joy that the hospitality
• 2:02
  Speaker 4: industry hasn't having ongoing relationships with Canadian visitors.
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  Speaker 3: We get it why you're.
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  Speaker 4: Not coming, but we want you to know we miss you,
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  Speaker 4: and we're really upset what the President's doing to make
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  Speaker 4: that wonderful relationship we've had over the decades.
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  Speaker 3: It's impaired.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I used to live in Quebec, so i'd
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  Speaker 1: ski at jpeak. I've done. I've spent a lot of
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  Speaker 1: time in your state, and I wonder, when you look
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  Speaker 1: at the damage that's been done with the retric with
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  Speaker 1: the threats, with the tariffs, how quickly do you think,
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  Speaker 1: let's say a deal is done and trade peace is
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: arrived at how confident are you that Canadian tourism will
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  Speaker 1: will resume as it was before all of this.
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: You know, it'll take a while because frankly, I don't
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  Speaker 4: think Canadians trust that President Trump has a lot of
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  Speaker 4: respect for Canada, and understandably so, so we might get
• 3:03
  Speaker 4: a trade deal, but where there's been this emotional rupture
• 3:08
  Speaker 4: that takes a lot of time to heal. Now we're
• 3:10
  Speaker 4: going to have a new president at some point, and
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  Speaker 4: I think whoever that is, republic and our Democrat will
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  Speaker 4: go back to the court the wonderful supportive ways that
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  Speaker 4: we've been.
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  Speaker 3: But your Prime Minister did use the right word. It's
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  Speaker 3: a rupture.
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  Speaker 4: You know. What has happened now is that it's not
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  Speaker 4: just an insult directed towards Canada by the President. There's
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  Speaker 4: been a real disruption in the relationships and people have
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: had to make adjustments.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: So it'll take some time, but what I.
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  Speaker 4: Can say with one hundred percent certainty is that all
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: of us in Vermont, including Governor Scott, we want to
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: have restored as quickly and as warmly as possible our
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: very close business and economic and emotional connection to Canadians.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: I don't know if you know this, but you went
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  Speaker 1: slightly viral in Canada for your exchange with Jamison Greer
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  Speaker 1: about the work his department has done and the rhetoric
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  Speaker 1: his boss has made toward Canada. When you talk to
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  Speaker 1: the trade representative or when you talk to members of
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  Speaker 1: the administration about the damage you see being done to
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  Speaker 1: American workers, American businesses, American communities, what do they say
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  Speaker 1: to you?
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  Speaker 4: You know, basically they throw their they don't even throw
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  Speaker 4: their hands up. I mean the reality here, and you
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  Speaker 4: know it is that the president is going to do
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  Speaker 4: what he's going to do, and he's going to say
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  Speaker 4: what he's going to say, and there's no rhyme or
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  Speaker 4: reason to it. You know, Greer is the trade representative,
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  Speaker 4: and if left to his devices, we'd be having negotiations.
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: Then they might be difficult, but they wouldn't be they
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  Speaker 4: wouldn't be insulting. So the president is not within the
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  Speaker 4: control of anybody that works for him. He controls them,
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  Speaker 4: and they're pretty intimidate him. That's the reality. So, you know,
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  Speaker 4: some of my colleagues, you know, including Kevin Kramer is
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  Speaker 4: a good example.
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  Speaker 3: He's on the north he's on the northern border.
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  Speaker 4: He's very close to Trump, but he really would say
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  Speaker 4: all the things about Canada that I just said. So
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  Speaker 4: I know people like him encourage the President to be cordial.
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  Speaker 4: You know, but Trump is Trump, and he's kind of
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  Speaker 4: an equal opportunity insulter of.
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  Speaker 3: People and country.
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  Speaker 1: You say that nobody can control him, and yet on
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: matters of trade, Congress is supposed to control a lot
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: more than it's been controlling. What what does what the
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: members of Congress need to do to try to reign
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  Speaker 1: back in matters like tariffs and trade policy.
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  Speaker 3: It's pretty simple. We've got to do our job.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, basically, the biggest lament I have about being
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: in the Senate right now is that we need Republicans
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: to help us assert our our Article one authority. We
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: the Congress are in charge of tariffs, and what's happened
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  Speaker 4: is the President has seized that authority and we could
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: take it back. But it would take affirmative action on
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  Speaker 4: the part of Republicans and Democrats where it wasn't about
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  Speaker 4: whether we agreed or disagreed with the president's tariffs.
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  Speaker 3: It would be about.
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  Speaker 4: Us standing up that it's our responsibility to decide whether
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  Speaker 4: to text the American citizens or not.
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  Speaker 3: That's under our constitution.
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  Speaker 4: But the reality is the Democrats are in opposition, but
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: we can't get a majority without several Republicans. And the
• 6:40
  Speaker 4: reality there is that they're intimidated by President Trump. There's
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  Speaker 4: real electoral consequences with them, especially in primaries.
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  Speaker 1: And yet we're whatever it is, eight eighty nine days
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: from the midterms. Once we get past that and there's
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: a new Congress, in whatever form it takes, do you
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  Speaker 1: expect to see your set house colleagues take a more
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  Speaker 1: affirmative stance towards regaining or reigning in those the responsibility
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  Speaker 1: for tarifs.
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  Speaker 3: We'd have to have a majority.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, the Republican Party is under the thumb of
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  Speaker 4: the president.
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  Speaker 1: After the midterms, you.
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  Speaker 4: Think, well, I think he does control him. But here's
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  Speaker 4: what it'll be different. If we have a majority here,
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: we'll have the votes. But the second thing is there.
• 7:26
  Speaker 4: If we win, it's going to be an indication that
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  Speaker 4: a lot of folks who liked the idea of Trump
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: and some of his policies are feeling the pain of
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: the reality of these tariffs. So keep in mind, you know,
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  Speaker 4: you and I are talking about the rupture and the
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: relationships between us and your country. But the bottom line
• 7:49
  Speaker 4: here is these tariffs are like brutal on Midwest farmers.
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  Speaker 4: They're brutal in North Dakota there, and so folks who
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  Speaker 4: really did vote for President Trump and had no idea
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: that when he got in he was actually going to
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  Speaker 4: do these tariffs which can affect our taxes, on our
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  Speaker 4: farmers in particular, and manufacturers. It's jobs, it's inflation, it's expense.
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  Speaker 4: So I think that'll be tempering for my republic, all
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  Speaker 4: of us really that hey, the American voter is feeling
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  Speaker 4: the pain of this. It's not just an abstract thing,
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  Speaker 4: and it's not just about insults. It's about the bottom
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  Speaker 4: line and ability to pay your bills at the end
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  Speaker 4: of the month.
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  Speaker 1: I think the concern here is that even if they
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  Speaker 1: get some kind of a deal to get trade peace,
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  Speaker 1: there are real questions about whether the Trump administration will
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  Speaker 1: abide by such a deal, or we'll just continue to
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  Speaker 1: make demands even after it. What's your advice to the
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  Speaker 1: Canadian delegation in Washington this week trying to reach some
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  Speaker 1: kind of a deal.
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  Speaker 4: I think we should be full speed ahead, doing everything
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  Speaker 4: we can in good faith. But I do think that
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  Speaker 4: it's a fair concern as to whether anything that we
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  Speaker 4: agree is something that Trump will honor. I mean, that
• 9:02
  Speaker 4: is his mo is that he is and makes demands,
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: reaches an agreement, and then finds a way to say
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: it's not working out. I mean we're seeing that in
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  Speaker 4: very tragic ways in what's.
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  Speaker 3: Going on in Iran with that war.
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  Speaker 4: So you know, Trump is volatile and we all know that.
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  Speaker 4: But I think all of us have to do the
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  Speaker 4: best we can in good faith with our counterparts, and
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  Speaker 4: then we're going to have to adjust to whatever it
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  Speaker 4: is the President may do. But if we get a
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  Speaker 4: legally enforceable agreement, I think that's a really good thing.
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  Speaker 1: I think a lot of us are glad to hear it.
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  Speaker 1: You have, Senator Peter Welsh, thank you for this, appreciate
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  Speaker 1: your time.
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  Speaker 3: Thank you