Trump’s using tariffs to get you to buy American. For US maple syrup, that’s a sticky situation

For nearly 30 years, Kevin Keyes and his brother-in-law Bob Chambers have run Dry Brook Sugar House in Salem, New York.

For nearly 30 years, Kevin Keyes and his brother-in-law Bob Chambers have run Dry Brook Sugar House in Salem, New York. Dry Brook Sugar House is nestled amid maple forests on the border of New York and Vermont. During this year’s maple season, which can run from February to April, they made 4,000 gallons of maple syrup. It has been their best season yet. But even though American maple producers sell to American consumers, they have not remained unscathed in President Donald Trump’s trade war. “This equipment did come out of Canada, it is Canadian, so when we bought it there was no tariffs,” Chambers said while showing CNN their evaporator, which helps refine the maple sap into syrup. Trump placed 25% tariffs on all goods from Canada in March, in part to help domestic industries. But nearly all the equipment needed to produce maple syrup in the United States, from the vacuum system that collects sap from the trees to the machinery to remove the water, is imported from Canada. Higher production costs could ultimately impact the price Americans pay for a bottle of maple syrup. Adam Wild, Director of Cornell University’s Uihlein Maple Research Forest, says that since producers operate on thin margins, the 25% tariff will likely lead to higher prices for consumers.