Tensions simmer on US-Canada border for two towns relying on each other

The Gordie Howe international bridge that connects Windsor, Ontario, Canada and Detroit, Michigan. Photograph: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenThe Gordie Howe international bridge that connects Windsor, Ontario, Canada and Detroit, Michigan. Photograph: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP/Getty ImagesTrump tariffsTensions simmer on US-Canada border for two towns relying on each otherCanadians ‘angry’ at Trump for suggesting Canada should become 51st state, says mayor, as US businesses see sales fall amid trade war

Like many Canadians, Tom Reid isn’t crossing the US-Canada border as often these days. But he needed a haircut.

The woman who cuts his hair lives in International Falls, Minnesota – her “sister is married to my wife’s cousin”, he explained – and so Reid, whose duty free shop in Fort Frances, Ontario, has to travel to her.

That’s how it goes for the residents of the two towns, divided by the Rainy River and an international border. They’re longtime friends and, in many cases, family. People cross the border frequently to shop, dine, go bowling, take their kids to sports and visit each other.

But Trump’s trade war against the US’s northern neighbor, and his derogatory comments about their country, has Canadians – known for their politeness – angry. Furious, actually. They’re shopping less at US businesses, and, in an unusual show of patriotism, encouraging consumers to “buy Canadian instead”.

Reid is buying Canadian more and more, he said at the register in his shop, with the Canadian flag on the wall behind him. “I don’t have that much choice, eh?” he said.

American business owners have seen declines in Canadian sales, while grappling with the uncertainty and costs associated with tariffs on their products. With tourist season winding down, and the leaves starting to change into yellows and oranges, the two towns are quieter.

Canada’s retaliatory tariffs went into force this week, though no one who lived in the towns had seen that directly reflected in prices yet. It was the latest heated battle between the two countries in the last nearly two years.

The mayors of the two towns call each other friends, and signed a joint declaration in 2025 affirming that friendship after Trump retook the White House. The flags of Minnesota, Ontario, both towns, and both countries fly outside the town offices in Fort Frances. But there’s only so much – and really, nothing – that a local official can do to blunt the economic effects of slipshod tariffs put in place by one man, more than a thousand miles away in Washington.

Most Canadians recognize this, according to Andrew Hallikas, the mayor of Fort Frances. They like Americans, and Fort Frances residents can relate to Minnesotans a lot: they share similar interests, in the outdoors and in community, he said. But they’re “irate” at Trump – for bullying their country, for going against an ally – and for suggesting Canada should become the 51st US state.

“You cannot imagine how angry that makes us,” Hallikas said. “Please quote me on this. I cannot make this clear enough: we will never become the 51st state. We consider ourselves to probably be the best country in the world in which to live, and we’re quite content to remain that way, thank you very much.”

For two towns that rely on each other, the tension of the trade war simmers underneath the surface. They all want it to end. They don’t know how, or when, it will.