New Brunswick premier proposes free-trade zone in Atlantic Canada [Video]

New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt is proposing a free-trade zone for goods and services within Atlantic Canada to help the region withstand United States’ tariffs.

In a letter Thursday to the three other Atlantic premiers, Holt says she wants the East Coast to “work freely and seamlessly within one Atlantic market.”

Holt is asking the other premiers — Nova Scotia’s Tim Houston, Newfoundland and Labrador’s Andrew Furey and P.E.I.’s Rob Lantz — to commit to developing an agreement that would make Atlantic Canada a “free-trade” area.

She says the similar economies of the region would make an Atlantic free-trade deal easier and faster to put together compared to one that encompasses the entire country.

But at least one premier is not sold on the idea.

…