MONTPELIER — The Vermont Legislature’s top economist called President Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada and Trump’s disparaging rhetoric toward the country a “costly unforced error” that is putting pressure on the state’s budget at an already challenging time.

Tom Kavet was speaking to members of the Vermont House and Senate at a briefing Wednesday in Montpelier on some of the major issues legislators will face when they reconvene for the 2026 legislative session, which starts the second week of January.

Kavet said a drop in visitors from Canada this year compared to years past — something that is a direct result of Trump’s actions — has meant less tax revenue is being collected from tourists to support state services. That’s likely to make it harder for legislative leaders, working with Gov. Phil Scott’s administration, to balance the books when they start developing a new state budget next month, Kavet said. 

At the same time, top legislators have already pointed to how rising costs at home and shrinking federal support for key social services could force them to trim other programs and initiatives that residents rely on, though they have not yet proposed specific cuts.

Traffic at Vermont’s welcome and visitor centers was down 9% between January and mid-November 2025 compared to the same period in 2024, according to data Kavet presented Wednesday. Most of those centers are situated on or near Interstates 89 and 91.

At the centers located closest to Canada — in Alburgh and Derby Line — the drop between those time periods was far higher, about 36%, data shows. At centers located slightly farther south, including in Georgia and Lyndonville, the drop was about 18%.

Meanwhile, data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows that traffic into the U.S. at border crossings in Vermont fell below 2024 levels immediately after Trump took office in January 2025, and has remained below 2024 levels every month since.

In October 2025, cross-border traffic — which includes cars, trucks, pedestrians, and airplanes — was down about 22% compared to October 2024, federal data shows. 

Kavet called the decline in cross-border visitors this year “needless.” 

Kavet is the president and co-founder of a Williamstown consulting firm that provides fiscal analyses guiding Vermont’s state budget-building process each year.

“I say needless just because you can apply tariffs on whoever you want, but if you want to rub it in somebody’s face and nose, you’re going to get reactions like this,” he said. “And it just doesn’t help when it comes to revenue that we’re wanting — and needing.”

The decline in traffic comes as Vermont has brought in less tax revenue from hotel room rentals and purchases at restaurants and bars than the state was expecting, Kavet said.

Meals and rooms tax revenue landed about 2% below October targets, according to the latest data from the state Agency of Administration. The amount the state put into its education fund from that same tax was about 4% below officials’ targets, according to the data.

Meanwhile, between January and the end of October 2025, the data shows meals and rooms tax collections were about 1% lower than they were over the first 10 months of 2024.

Some of the best musicians from the Green Mountains’ folk and bluegrass scene are banding together to help feed hungry Vermonters this winter.

Chad Hollister, Kris Gruen, Bow Thayer and the VT Bluegrass Pioneers headline the FEED VT benefit concert on Sunday, December 21, at the Haybarn Theatre at the Creative Campus at Goddard in Plainfield. Billed as “an inspiring evening of music, community and love to help feed Vermont families in need,” the show funnels all proceeds to the nonprofit Capstone Community Action’s Food Shelf in Barre. The organizers ask attendees to bring nonperishable food items. Find the wish list at capstonevt.org, where you can also follow a link for tickets.

Burlington punk band Violet Crimes have joined forces with singer Bri Lucas, formerly of the rock band Embers in Umbra, to release the new single “Don’t Own Me.” The hard-charging pop-punk rager is an anthem for the fight to restore and protect women’s reproductive rights.

“Does my body make you nervous?” Lucas sings on the track. “My autonomy so disturbing? Oh well, you don’t own it.”

The song came about after Lucas reached out to Violet Crimes singer Amy Klinger. Fueled by the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, they joined forces to write the track with Violet Crimes drummer Jason Dean and recorded it with producer Ryan Cohen at Robot Dog Studio across the lake in Mineville, N.Y.

“I once benefited from medical intervention during a miscarriage,” Lucas wrote in a press release for the single. “I decided to write a punk-rock song about this era of women’s rights and our ongoing struggle for bodily autonomy.”

Lucas wanted to sing with another female vocalist on the track and immediately thought of Klinger and Violet Crimes.

“Working on this song literally and figuratively gives us voice at a time when it’s easy to feel powerless,” Klinger said in the press release. “Plus, having the chance to sing a great, earworm-worthy song with a powerhouse, high energy vocalist like Bri is an absolute privilege.”

All profits from “Don’t Own Me” will be donated to the Center for Reproductive Rights, a global organization. Stream the track at violetcrimesvt.bandcamp.com and watch the making-of video filmed at Robot Dog on YouTube.

Snow is falling, bells are jingling — you know what time it is. And so do Vermont musicians! The wave of holiday shows and albums has started to roll in.

Kick off the festive month on Thursday, December 4, at Richmond Congregational Church with a performance from bluegrass and jazz act Mr. Sun. The quartet, led by ace fiddler Darol Anger and mandolin virtuoso Joe K. Walsh, performs its interpretation of Duke Ellington’s interpretation of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite. (Mr. Sun also recorded their version in 2023 at Mass MoCA in North Adams, Mass.) Check out valleystageproductions.com for more information and to purchase tickets.

Burlington band EmaLou & the Beat have dropped an entire new holiday album titled Simple Things. Recorded live last year at Burlington’s Tank Recording Studio — on the winter solstice, no less — the record features classics such as “Let It Snow” and “White Christmas,” alongside originals and new arrangements of traditional tunes. The band celebrates the vinyl release of the record with two holiday shows: Friday, December 12, at the Montpelier Performing Arts Hub and Friday, December 19, at the Venetian Cocktail & Soda Lounge in Burlington. Visit emaloumusic.wordpress.com to learn more.

Bull’s Head, the solo project of folk songwriter Andy Samara, has a new EP out titled Joy to the World. The album features three traditional, public-domain holiday classics; Bob Dylan’s “Must Be Santa”; and Samara’s own original yuletide composition, “Same Light as the Kings.”

“As a lukewarm fan of Christmas music, and hater of contemporary Christmas originals, it feels fun to release this small collection,” Samara wrote in an email. He compiled the songs after recording them over the years as holiday gifts to friends. Give Joy to the World a listen at bullshead.bandcamp.com.

Listening In

Playlist of Vermont jams

This article appears in Dec 3-9 2025.

The Trump administration has taken Vermont’s secretary of state to court, asking a federal judge to force the state to turn over information on registered voters. 

Filed on Monday in Vermont’s U.S. District Court, the lawsuit argues Secretary of State Sarah Copeland Hanzas violated federal election law when she refused to share registered voters’ addresses, drivers license numbers and the last four digits of their social security numbers, among other information. 

Vermont officials have yet to respond to the suit in court.