Gov. Maura Healey and other New England governors plan to host their Canadian counterparts for a regional trade and tariff summit in Boston next month, her office said Tuesday.
The previously announced meeting is now on the books for Monday, June 16, and Healey’s office said additional details will be forthcoming. The New England governors last month invited the premiers from New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Québec to huddle as President Donald Trump’s trade policy strains the relationship between the U.S. and Canada.
“(W)e want to keep open lines of communication and cooperation and identify avenues to overcome the hardship of these uninvited tariffs and help our economies endure. As we continue to navigate this period of great uncertainty, we are committed to preserving cross border travel, encouraging tourism in our respective jurisdictions, and promoting each other’s advantages and amenities,” the governors wrote in their letter.
During budget debate Tuesday, the Senate adopted Quincy Sen. John Keenan’s amendment to have the Mass. Office of Travel and Tourism consider the feasibility of initiatives to promote Massachusetts as a destination for residents of countries “where there’s been a decline in travel to the Commonwealth since January 1, 2025.”
“Words have consequences. There’s no surprise that when President Trump raised tariffs on so many countries, people from those countries decided to boycott travel to the United States. And this sentiment seems particularly strong in Canada, and it goes back to where words have consequences, where the president talked about Canada becoming the 51st state,” Keenan said. “So our close neighbors to the north went from seeing us as their best friends to combatants to be dealt with in an elbows-up fashion.”
Keenan said he recently had a meeting with people from Canada, and they told him that “even getting local officials up there to come to Massachusetts is going to be very difficult.”
“And so that indicates, really, the extent of the negative sentiment towards the United States that’s being reflected again in tourism here from Canada,” he said.
