Where in the World is New Brunswick?

Gasoline & medium oils bound for Maine and Massachusetts lead the way; lobsters and lumber trail behind in a province dependent on the U.S. for 90 per cent of its export market

A container ship arrives in the Port of Saint John, March 2025. (photo by Michael Hawkins)

In 2024, Massachusetts bought $2 billion of gasoline from New Brunswick, Belgium bought just under $667,000 live eels and someone on the Polynesian island of Niue bought $77 worth of specialized paper products.

As New Brunswick businesses, families and the provincial government prepare American tariffs of 25 percent on all Canadian imports, scheduled to begin April 2, 2025, I’m diving into the trade numbers to see precisely where and what New Brunswick buys and sells with the world.¹

Last year, the province exported $17.5 billion of goods to 149 countries, which on paper looks great.

However, 90 percent of those exports went to the United States, and of that, Massachusetts and Maine accounted for 60 percent of all New Brunswick exports to its southern neighbour.

New Brunswick might be exporting, but most of its products aren’t travelling far.

New Brunswick sold $9.4 billion of goods to Massachusetts and Maine in 2024, but it was far from diversified.

Energy exports, most notably gasoline and oils, undoubtedly from the Irving Oil refinery in Saint John, account for the majority, as these two lists illustrate.

New Brunswick light oils (gasoline) exports to Massachusetts and Maine, 2024

Massachusetts – $2 billion

Maine – $1.9 billion

Total – $3.9 billion

New Brunswick medium oils* (industrial use) exports to Massachusetts and Maine, 2024

Massachusetts – $1.4 billion

Maine – $1.4 billion

Total – $2.8 billion

*Medium oils are used for power generation, in industrial processes and as lubricants.

Together, oils and gasoline account for 72 percent of New Brunswick exports to Massachusetts and Maine and 43 percent of all U.S.-bound exports.

That means as Irving Oil’s fortunes go, so too will New Brunswick’s as the province and the country negotiate a new trade reality with the American government.

Here is a breakdown of New Brunswick's top 25 product exports to the U.S. in 2024, which account for $14.2 billion in total U.S.-bound exports of $15.8 billion. That’s 90 percent of all U.S. exports, led by oil and gas.

Oil and gas products – $10.3 billion

65.5% of all U.S.-bound exports

Light oils (gasoline) – $4.85 billion

Medium oils & lubricants – $4.2 billion

Petroleum bitumen – $828 million

Natural gas – $297 million

Petrochemicals – $169 million

Seafood – $1.4 billion

8.9% of all U.S.-bound exports

Frozen lobsters – $527 million

Prepared lobsters – $360 million

Fresh Atlantic salmon – $284 million

Frozen crab – $187 million

Live lobster – $56 million

Wood products – $746 million

4.7% of all U.S.-bound exports

Lumber – $523 million

Oriented strand board – $89 million

Wood products for home renovations/building – $76 million

Fibreboard – $58 million

Paper products – $479 million

3% of all U.S.-bound exports

Packaging paper – $275 million

Diapers, tampons & other sanitary products – $112 million

Corrugated paper – $91 million

Wood pulp – $422 million

2.7% of all U.S.-bound exports

Kraft (sulfate process) pulp – $216 million

Non-kraft process pulp – $206 million

Potatoes – $332 million

2.1% of all U.S.-bound exports

Prepared potatoes – $279 million

Fresh potatoes – $53 million

The Rest of the Top 25

2.8% of all U.S.-bound exports

Electricity – $212 million

Peat – $105 million

Animal feed – $84 million

Tanks and armoured vehicles – $49 million

It’s a sobering list. As Canadians consider how to turn away from the United States and towards increasing interprovincial trade and seeking out new markets, it is apparent that New Brunswick has some significant work to do within its borders. It needs to help existing exporters develop new, non-U.S. markets and increase the number of companies and products ready and able to export.

Whether ready or not, New Brunswick businesses are being forced out of their comfort zone. The era of almost exclusive reliance on stable trading between neighbouring states has been disrupted, and change is in the wind.

Next week, I’ll explore where the other 10 percent of New Brunswick’s exports are going and what we sell to the rest of the world.

1. All trade data was drawn from the Government of Canada’s Trade Data Online, a fabulous database of Canadian trade by province, product and industry.