Boat builders brace for rough waters as Trump’s trade war rumbles Maritimes

A boat is seen propped up on the shore in Escuminac, N.B.

As tariffs dominate conversations in Maritime fishing communities, uncertainty spills from the wharves to boatyards.

“Everybody is kind of concerned about what the future could look like,” said Gilles Theriault, president of A.F. Theriault & Son Ltd.

His company, one of the largest privately owned shipyards in Atlantic Canada, builds commercial fishing boats, ferries and Coast Guard vessels in Meteghan River, N.S.—the heart of one of Canada’s largest and most lucrative lobster fishing areas.

Just like anything made up of hundreds of components, parts of a boat are sourced from all over. At Theriault’s shipyard, vessels are made of steel, aluminum and fiber composites. Engines come from the states.

Theriault knows tariffs will cause pain and said the company aims to think differently about boat building and boat repairs.

“We work a little harder and we get up earlier to try to figure out exactly what we need to do to, you know, keep our shipyard going, keep our people employed, and then make it work,” he said.

In Miramichi and Escuminac, N.B., the owner of Millennium Marine Cory Guimond showed CTV News several boats being built by his crew, including fishing boats and sport boats. He estimates about 80 to 90 per cent of his boat components are sourced from the U.S. and about half of his boats are sold stateside. Right now, American customers are holding back.

“Buyers are hesitant to purchase, not wanting to have to pay the 25 per cent extra,” Guimond said.

He said demand for boat building had slowed anyway but the tariffs create a higher hurdle, should they happen.

“We’re fighters. We can go out. We can manage. We always have through hard times. One way or another, we’ll figure it out,” Guimond said.

Fishing communities face a two-front trade war with both China and the U.S.

China has imposed a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian seafood in response to Canada’s tariff on Chinese electric vehicles and steel and aluminum. Trump hit Canadian steel and aluminum with a 25 per cent tariff and Canada hit back. This week, Trump vowed to tariff autos made outside the U.S., and people are bracing for more tariffs set for April 2.

Tariffs on seafood going to China and potentially the U.S.—the two biggest markets for seafood—bring concern.

CTV News spoke with several fishermen in Escuminac, N.B. Wednesday—a small coastal fishing community where the fish plants and wharves dominate the landscape and lobster boats dot driveways like cars.

“We have a situation and we have to deal with it as calmly as we can and see what happens. Because nobody knows what’s gonna happen,” said Kenneth Gibbs, a lobster fisherman in the community.

With so much at stake, and so much unknown, people are cautious about spending right now.

“We have to be careful of what we decide to do. Cause we don’t know what’s going to happen,” said Gibbs.

Jan Fullerton, the executive director of the Nova Scotia Boatbuilders Association (NSBA), highlighted how the disruptions brought on by tariffs aren’t universally felt among builders and suppliers because people build different kinds of boats and use different materials.

“What I am hearing is the first wave of Canada’s counter tariffs. The retaliatory tariffs are not having a massive impact yet, but they’re expected to have a bigger impact moving forward,” said Jan Fullerton, “Those who are building the steel and aluminum are feeling more of an impact from it.”

Fullerton says she spoke with a supplier who uses fiber-composition who says a lot of material come from the U.S., but they have alternate supply chains they can tap into.

“So that’s quite reassuring because about 90 per cent of our builders here in Nova Scotia, in the Maritimes, are building with fiberglass,” she said.

Theriault said the industry will lean on the Canadian government and it needs governments to be on its side to award contracts and put out bids for projects like fisheries vessels, ferries and Coast Guard boats.

“So, these are things that create opportunity for guys like us that have shipyards that will work on these vessels during the year,” said Theriault.