US Customs Halts Essential Supply Shipments to Isolated New Brunswick Island
Donald Trump’s new import ban targeting select Canadian goods is playing havoc with shipments of milk, liquor and groceries to Campobello Island, a part of Canada where the only land access is through Maine.
U.S. Customs on Tuesday blocked a truck from New Brunswick that carries supplies through Maine to the Canadian island – a land journey of about 75 kilometres, according to Campobello’s mayor, Harvey Matthews.
The supply truck was turned back at the border crossing between St. Stephen, N.B., and Calais, Me., and instead travelled by two ferries to reach Campobello, home to about 950 people. The second ferry is only seasonal and expected to shut down after Thanksgiving.
The Trump administration’s ban, which took effect at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, targets Canadian alcoholic beverages, motorcycles and products such as molasses and whey. It is the latest escalation in a trade war between Canada and the United States that was started by Mr. Trump in early 2025.
Mr. Matthews said he was not sure which products prompted U.S. Customs and Border Protection to turn back the Canadian truck, but he said its shipment includes liquor for a grocery store on the island.
The truck, which is sealed with a customs tag, makes daily runs to deliver mail to residents of Campobello and it carries liquor and groceries, including milk, about once a week, the mayor said.
He said the truck’s contents won’t make any difference in the U.S.-Canada trade war.
“It’s pretty stupid for two countries that are supposed to be neighbours to be fighting over this foolish stuff,” Mr. Matthews said.
“You can live without the alcohol, but the milk is pretty important.”
He said this supply truck was allowed to operate unimpeded during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as in the weeks following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that snarled border traffic. The island is accessible by bridge from the Maine town of Lubec.
Mr. Matthews said he has remained friendly and positive about the United States during the trade dispute and is puzzled why these restrictions are affecting a truck sealed with a customs tag that is merely delivering goods to Canadians.
“Mark Carney probably has no clue where Campobello is. It’s not like it’s gonna make that big of a deal in these trade talks.”
The mayor said his neighbours in Maine are not to blame for this. It’s “one guy,” he said, referring to Mr. Trump.
Mr. Matthews said he never supported anti-American actions, including taking down U.S. flags. “These are our neighbours, like close neighbours. We don’t live kilometres away. We live a short bridge away.”
John Williamson, the Conservative MP for New Brunswick Southwest, whose riding includes Campobello Island, said he’s talking to the Department of Global Affairs and Pete Hoekstra, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, in hopes of resolving the matter.
“This is not how two neighbours and friends should treat one another,” Mr. Williamson said. He said cross-border communities in his area share fire and emergency services.
“The relations between communities along the Maine-New Brunswick border are deep,” the MP said. “This really isolates Campobello.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. embassy in Ottawa said they are looking into the matter.
Campobello Island is home to the Roosevelt Campobello International Park, which celebrates relations between Canada and the U.S. The park’s website says it’s a “singular example of international co-operation – jointly administered, staffed and funded by the peoples of Canada and the United States.”
It’s the location of the Roosevelt Cottage, the summer home of the family of former U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt and his wife, Eleanor.
This article was first reported by The Globe and Mail
