MORGAN, Vt. — Making maple syrup in New England’s fickle spring weather can be an unpredictable business. Now President Donald Trump’s ever-changing tariff policies are adding anxiety about an industry that depends on multinational trade.

“Any kind of disruption with our cross border enterprise, we feel it,” said Jim Judd, a fourth-generation sugarer who owns Judd’s Wayeeses Farms in Morgan, Vermont. “It’s uncertain enough making maple syrup.”

Judd, who has been making Vermont’s signature product since the 1970s, says multiple countries contribute to each container of the sticky sweetener. Stainless steel fixtures used connect sap lines and boil the liquid into syrup can originate in China. Packaging often comes from Italy. And the vast majority of equipment is sold by Canada, which produces about four-fifths of the planet’s maple syrup — and sells nearly two-thirds of it to U.S. consumers.

That’s why this spring’s whiplash is so concerning to Judd and many other U.S. producers in Vermont as well as New York, Maine and Wisconsin.

Trump backed off the stiffest tariffs on most nations for 90 days earlier this month while increasing the taxes on Chinese imports to 145% and engaging in a lengthy back and forth with Canada and Mexico about tariffs on their countries’ goods.

Allison Hope, executive director of the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers’ Association, said they’re assuming that Trump’s latest position means there is no tariff on finished maple products for now — but the situation gets murkier when considering that necessary packaging, equipment and materials may originate in China.

“It’s like the weather in New England. You wait five minutes and it might change,” Hope said. “Now it matters how Canada makes its equipment and gets its materials. … It’s hard for businesses to run on a growth mentality when there’s no sense of what the industry is going to look like in a way, in a year.”

The uncertainty is arriving in a time of relative growth for syrup producers in the U.S. as well as Canada. Vermont has seen an increase in production of nearly 500% over the last 20 years as producers scaled up, new businesses formed and U.S. consumers sought local and natural alternatives to refined sugars, Hope said.

But disrupting trade with Canada, the maple syrup powerhouse, could be devastating. Judd, for one, said he has spent “countless amounts of hours and lots and lots of money” buying equipment in Canada over the decades. Import taxes could sharply increase his costs, and since syrup is, at essence, a luxury good, he thinks he can’t raise prices.

“We can’t do this without Canadian help. We can’t buy what we need at another outlet because it’s all in Canada,” Judd said. “We’ve been crossing this border all my life. The recent changes we see being imposed on the people here — we’re not sure that they’re all necessary.”

___

Whittle reported from Scarborough, Maine.

The northern lights could be visible across Vermont tonight, according to the latest forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center.

The phenomenon, which is also known as aurora borealis, are a natural display of light in the northern hemisphere that can appear as colorful hues in the night sky, according to Michigan Technological University.

Tonight’s forecast map for the aurora shows the view line reaching as far south as Vermont and New Hampshire.

Wednesday night’s forecast also shows potential visibility in northern Vermont, though it could change during the day tomorrow.

Where will the northern lights be visible tonight?

According to NOAA’s latest forecast, the northern lights could be seen in almost all of Vermont on Tuesday night.

As for how strong the display will be, that’s yet to be seen, but NOAA is rating the planetary K index, also known as Kp, at a 6 out of 9.

This rates the amount of geomagnetic activity and indicates how far away from the poles the aurora could be visible, according to NOAA. A Kp score around 6-7 indicates very bright auroral activity, per NOAA.

“At this geomagnetic activity level, it might be possible to see the aurora from the northern edge of the United States,” the agency says of the Kp score.

Wednesday night’s forecast is rated at a Kp of 5 as of Tuesday afternoon, which indicates a possible strong aurora.

When will the northern lights be visible?

The northern lights are only visible at nighttime, according to NOAA. That means the aurora could be visible in parts of the northern United States once it gets dark this evening.

The aurora is usually seen just after sunset or just before sunrise, according to NOAA. The agency says the best aurora is usually within an hour or two of midnight.

As always, it also depends on cloud cover, and this evening is looking cloudy in Burlington.

Where to check the northern lights forecast

To track the latest northern lights forecast, check out these websites:

Melina Khan is a trending reporter for the USA TODAY Network – New England, which serves more than a dozen affiliated publications across New England. She can be reached at MKhan@gannett.com. 

A Palestinian man who led protests against the war in Gaza as a student at Columbia University was arrested Monday at a Vermont immigration office where he expected to be interviewed about finalizing his U.S. citizenship, his attorneys said.

Mohsen Mahdawi, a legal permanent resident who has held a green card since 2015, was detained at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services office in Colchester by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, his lawyers said.

The attorneys said they do not know where he is. They filed a petition in federal court seeking an order barring the government from removing him from the state or country.

“The Trump administration detained Mohsen Mahdawi in direct retaliation for his advocacy on behalf of Palestinians and because of his identity as a Palestinian. His detention is an attempt to silence those who speak out against the atrocities in Gaza. It is also unconstitutional,” attorney Luna Droubi said in an email.

According to the court filing, Mahdawi was born in a refugee camp in the West Bank and moved to the United States in 2014. He recently completed coursework at Columbia and was expected to graduate in May before beginning a master’s degree program there in the fall.

The petition describes him as a committed Buddhist who believes in “non-violence and empathy as a central tenet of his religion.”

As a student, Mahdawi was an outspoken critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and organized campus protests until March 2024. He co-founded the Palestinian Student Union at Columbia with Mahmoud Khalil, another Palestinian permanent resident of the U.S. and graduate student who recently was detained by ICE.

Khalil was the first person arrested under President Donald Trump’s promised crackdown on students who joined campus protests against the war in Gaza. On Friday, an immigration judge in Louisiana ruled that Khalil can be deported as a national security risk.

Christopher Helali, a friend of Mahdawi who lives near him in Vermont, was present outside the immigration office when Mahdawi was detained and recorded a video of Mahdawi being led away by authorities. In the video, which Helali released on social media Monday, Mahdawi is shown giving a peace sign with his hands and being led away to a car.

Helali described Mahdawi as a peaceful demonstrator who has worked to foster dialogue about the struggle of Palestinians in his homeland. Helali said he and Mahdawi were aware that Mahdawi could be detained today and that his friend went forward with the appointment anyway.

“And rightfully so, he was nervous for what was going on around him. But he was very much resolute in coming to this interview and coming today because he didn’t do anything wrong and was a law-abiding citizen, or soon-to-be citizen,” Helali said.

Vermont’s congressional delegation issued a statement condemning Mahdawi’s arrest, saying that instead of taking one of the final steps in his citizenship process, he was handcuffed by armed officers with their faces covered.

“This is immoral, inhumane, and illegal. Mr. Mahdawi, a legal resident of the United States, must be afforded due process under the law and immediately released from detention,” said the statement from Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Peter Welch and Rep. Becca Balint.