US-Canada Border Cities suffered from Trump’s trade war

At the end, the waitress Christina Lampert used two piles to separate her tips: Canadian cash and Americans.

But it took several weeks as she did it.

The restaurant where it works is one of the first places that people can bite after crossing the US-Canada border between Sarnia, Ontario and the port of Guron, Michigan.

The Blue Water Bridge connecting the US and Canada is full of restaurant windows.

“A lot of people came and said,” We are here for a look, “she says about Canadian snacks.” I didn’t hear it recently. “

Border cities noticed almost instantly when US President Donald Trump began to impose tariffs for the world and stated that he wants to make Canada a 51st US state – because the number of Canadians crossing the border size.

Border crossings between the US and Canada have fallen by 17% since Trump has started to bring tariffs, CBP reports.

Canadian trips to the United States decreased by almost 32% compared to March 2024, Canada’s statistics reports.

As in many cities that suggest at the border of 5525 miles (8,891 km), Port -Gurona and Sarnia savings are linked and depends on each other in a sense. Port Huron is a production city of less than 30,000 people with a bizarre city center and a lot of retail, offering visitors an attractive opportunity for a day trip.

On the day when there is little traffic, the resident of Sarnia can cross the border and be in Michigan in minutes.

Many of these cities encountered the first test more than five years ago when Pandemy Covid-19 closed the crossings for 19 months and left local economies.

Now they see the second economic blow from Trump’s -trading war, and many Canadians choose “buy Canadian” – buy Canadian production – and reduce the trip to the United States in response to two neighboring countries.

One place that it felt is on Duty Free Sarnia, the last place where you can buy goods before leaving Canada and enter the US. The shelves of perfume and alcoholic beverages are more complete, and the parking lot is empty, as the tension of the tariffs began.

Barbara Barrett, Executive Director of the Frontier Duty Free Company says that some of the 32 land duties in Canada have been observed by an 80% decrease in sales since Trump’s return to the White House. Most stores have a 50-60%drop in business.

“We are 100% expected to travel across the border,” she says of the duty officer. “Our shops are often pillars of these communities; they depend on the community.”

And while crossing to Port-Guron-Sorny goes better than most, on Friday in May, Sarnia parking is free, almost empty.

Tanya Lee, who manages the store with her family, says he has become a new norm.

On the Easter weekend – usually one of them the most lively in the year, when the Canadians take advantage of the break to focus in your favorite restaurant and go to the church service in the port -Gon – cars were little and far between them, and the sales were not what they had, she says.

“We are suffering from side injury at the border,” says Ms. Lee about her second-generation family business.

Ms Lee notes that people who live in border cities often cross the border several times a week. For example, she has a mailbox in delivery to the port -Gurone, which she regularly visits, like her neighbors.

People through the Blue Water Bridge also feel consequences, says Anita Eshford.

She heard both the residents of her city and the Canadians disappointed the tension between the peoples.

At the national level, the fall of Canadian tourism by 10% will cost the United States up to $ 14,000 and $ 2.1 billion (1.56 billion pounds), reports the US Travel Association.

Michigan is one of the places that may see the main influence. According to tourism officials, in 2023, visitors to the Canadians spent a team of $ 238 million.

This money is important for border cities such as the port of Huron, says his mayor.

“I hope people in Washington will begin to understand what they do with people,” she says. “We are not responsible for this (federal) government has put us in this post, and now we have to deal with it.”

“We need each other,” she says.