Enraged Canadians are boycotting American goods in the face of President Trump’s trade war – and small US businesses along the northern border are feeling the brunt of the financial pain, according to a report.
Trump’s 25% tariff on Canadian imports and threats to annex the nation have shut the spigot of regular visits over the border to patronize US restaurants and grocery stores, Bloomberg reported.
Border crossings from Canada into the US plunged more than 22% in March compared to the year before, according to US Customs and Border Protection data.
The sparsely-populated Washington state town of Point Roberts is among those that are suffering.
Located about 20 miles south of Vancouver at the bottom of a peninsula, Point Roberts is surrounded by water on three sides with its sole land access through Canada – making it heavily dependent on sales to Canadians.
“We do not survive without Canada. We just don’t,” Ali Hayton, owner of the main grocery store in Point Roberts, said during a roundtable meeting about the crisis.
Some stores in the town use cash registers with two drawers, with one for Canadian dollars and one for the US, while other businesses have slashed their exchange rates in an attempt to win over customers, according to Bloomberg.
At the Peace Arch, located near Point Roberts in Blaine, Wash., Canadian southbound traffic is down 52% in the first two weeks of April compared to last year.
Hayton said sales at her grocery store are down 30% compared to this time last year, forcing her to slash stock orders and lower her exchange rate.
Some of the Canadian visitors who have continued to shop at her store end up shocked by the hefty tariff at the border, and turn around to return the products, she said.
Now, she’s worried about whether she’ll be able to keep her 17 employees on the payroll, since 80% of her business comes from Canadian travelers during the summer, she added.
“There’s a lot of people that are saying, ‘Why don’t we just give Point Roberts to Canada?’” Hayton said. “I feel like most of the people in Point Roberts really just feel like we are alone in this.”
Bill Becht, who owns an antique store in nearby Blaine and voted for Trump, said he thinks the president’s threats to take over Canada are just talk – but “you can feel” the loss of Canadian customers.
Several parcel delivery stores flourish in Point Roberts, since Canadians who are unable to get items delivered to Canada will send them to the parcel delivery location in the US and drive over to pick up the packages.
At least one of these stores has already closed after its business tumbled 75% in March from the year before, according to the report.
The loss of business is reminiscent of that suffered during border closing because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But at least then Americans could lean on government loans and stimulus, residents told Bloomberg.
Tamra Hansen, a dual citizen from British Columbia who owns two restaurants in Point Roberts, said her businesses are in jeopardy.
“It’s like a mining town,” she told Bloomberg. “And when the mine shuts down, what happens to that town?”
These towns are seeing significant drops in sales tax revenue – enough to put city staffers at risk of furlough, according to Blaine Mayor Mary Lou Stewar.
Washington is one of the most trade-dependent states in the US, as the country’s top producer of apples, blueberries, hops, pears and sweet cherries, according to the report.