I’m the general manager at Northstar Canoes, a small manufacturing company in Minnesota, and so far, there’s nothing about President Trump’s policies that are good for either our international or domestic business.
Our 17 employees make performance canoes out of carbon fiber, aramid and polypropylene. Our canoes are sold throughout the United States, Canada and Europe. We’re not even a blip in the economy, but every passionate paddler knows our boats. We are one of the millions of small businesses that politicians like to call the backbone of the economy during campaign season.
All businesses need a stable political and economic environment to thrive. Administrations on both sides of the aisle, for as long as I can recall, have worked to foster conditions that allow businesses to succeed.
This administration’s trade wars and attempts to weaken environmental regulations, by contrast, are terrible for our business.
As a small company, we’ve invested significant resources to develop international markets. The tariffs imposed during the first Trump administration caused retaliatory tariffs to be imposed by both the European Union and Canada, which decreased our sales. To keep our prices competitive, we had to give discounts to our European and Canadian partners, lowering profitability. Which meant less opportunity to expand and support our workers.
Since the second Trump administration’s policies have taken effect, our international business has come to a halt. The constant uncertainty means our customers don’t even know the actual price they’ll pay when they buy our canoes. And our European distributors are wary of a trade war. From the time they place an order it takes months before the container of canoes arrives at a European port, and our distributors can’t risk that tariffs will be imposed during the lag time.
On this side of the Atlantic, a large Canadian retailer cancelled nearly his entire order. I inquired what he planned to substitute for our canoes. He replied he’d order from a Canadian brand. When I asked why he hadn’t done so before, he answered that their canoes are lower quality and more expensive.
He explained he couldn’t sell our canoes in the current political environment. In his words, Trump has done more to unite Canadians — conservatives and liberals — than anything in recent history. He explained that even if the tariffs were removed, no one would buy our canoes now because Canadians are boycotting products from the United States.
When trade opens up again — whether it’s in one year or in four — the customers won’t necessarily come back. Once they’ve established new buying habits, we’ll have to invest more capital to change their purchasing behavior again. What’s infuriating is that we have already invested resources to open those markets.
The goal of any administration should be to facilitate business, not disrupt it.
Meanwhile, our domestic business is threatened by the Trump administration’s plans to eliminate the environmental review for proposed copper sulfide mines adjacent to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. We build canoes in Minnesota because of the BWCA. More canoes are paddled in the Boundary Waters than anywhere else in the nation. The BWCA has some of the cleanest water in the world — many paddlers drink directly from the lakes.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, hard rock mining is among the biggest emitters of toxic chemicals — such as sulfuric acid, mercury and arsenic — of any industry. Mining companies assure us the toxic chemicals will be contained by tailings dams. But many of these pollutants last hundreds of years. It’s unrealistic to believe a dam can be constructed that will last hundreds of years when the Rapidan Dam on the Blue Earth River recently failed after only 115 years.
An accidental release into the BWCA would be catastrophic for the environment, and for our business. The release of toxic chemicals into the pristine ecosystem would dramatically reduce BWCA visitation. Longer-term, it would force many BWCA-related businesses to close, while substantially decreasing property values in our region. It is imperative for our business, the economy of northeastern Minnesota, and the country that the BWCA remains permanently protected.
Between the sloppy rollout of tariffs and bullheaded support for mining without regard to the consequences, the Trump administration is mounting a full-scale assault on our small business.
You don’t have to look far to find other casualties.
We elected a businessman. Why doesn’t he behave like one?
Editor’s note: The author is co-owner of Paddle and Portage, a site launched in 2024 with news, information and storytelling about the Boundary Waters and other great paddling destinations in North America.
Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com.