HALIFAX: The Christmas tree industry in Nova Scotia is reportedly facing a severe crisis. Traditionally, hundreds of thousands of Balsam Fir trees would be exported to the US and globally before December 25th. However, current figures indicate that exports to the United States have dropped by approximately 50% this year.
Ongoing trade disputes and tariff policies between Canada and the US have created uncertainty among American consumers. Farmers reveal that, due to these conflicts, US traders are actively avoiding purchasing Canadian products.
Business Professor Dan Shaw suggests that this reduction is a result of American consumers attempting to mitigate risk amid prevailing economic uncertainty. Nevertheless, farmers remain hopeful that the decrease in US sales will result in a local surplus of trees. They believe this will allow for a more diverse range of trees to be available in the Canadian market, helping to offset the financial losses to a certain extent.
