PLYMOUTH, Wis. — The Trump administration’s new tariffs on Canada could have an impact on maple syrup. 

In the United States, Wisconsin ranks as the 4th largest maple syrup-producing state. But that’s still far behind Canada, which supplies about 70% of the world’s maple syrup. 

Canada also makes a lot of the specialized equipment maple syrup producers around the world use.

Peter Roth owns Roth Sugar Bush, a Cadott-based company that supplies producers with that equipment, which ranges from giant evaporators to tubing and sap extraction equipment. 

Roth said he is closely watching tariff-related developments and specifically, how different imported products will be categorized. He said many products manufactured in Canada, such as tubing and evaporators, use raw materials that come from the U.S. and are then sent to Quebec to be built. 

“Do they consider that a Canadian product because all the raw materials come from the U.S.? The last time they did this five years ago, they exempted if you used your own materials from the United States,” said Roth. 

Individual syrup producers are closely following tariff impacts as well. Barbara Drewry-Zimmerman helps run her family’s business, Drewry Farms Maple Syrup in Plymouth. 

Drewry-Zimmerman said while she is unsure what the impact to the market will be, she believes higher prices for Canadian goods could translate to more people shopping locally. She said that could extend to maple syrup. 

“I think it will. I think people will support the local food industry. During COVID, we saw great rises in people wanting to know where their vegetables were coming from,” said Drewry-Zimmerman  

While a significant portion of syrup-making equipment comes from Canada, there are Wisconsin-based producers as well. Drewry Farms works to buy locally made equipment whenever possible. Drewry-Zimmerman recently purchased new evaporator parts from Calumet County-based Smoky Lake Maple Products.