The Tiny Border Town Getting Battered by Trump’s Tariffs on Canada

“We have had conversations as a family where, if we have to go to the mainland for anything—doctor’s appointments, dentist, whatever—do we go separately? Do we go together? What happens if all three of us with Koraline get detained for whatever reason? What do we do next? And if it’s happening with us, who are U.S. citizens, I couldn’t even imagine being a Canadian who wants to come over here, or go anywhere in the U.S. at this point.”

“Because of the rhetoric, the tension, people were afraid of the reaction of the border guards,” said Morrison. “Once that chatter starts, people don’t want to cross, especially seniors. Don’t wanna deal with it.”

On May 6, as he prepared to meet with newly minted Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Donald Trump took a moment to reflect on America’s relationship with its neighbor to the north.

“I very much want to work with him, but cannot understand one simple TRUTH,” Trump wrote on social media. “Why is America subsidizing Canada by $200 Billion Dollars a year, in addition to giving them free Military Protection, and many other things? We don’t need their Cars, we don’t need their Energy, we don’t need their Lumber, we don’t need ANYTHING they have, other than their friendship, which hopefully we will always maintain. They, on the other hand, need EVERYTHING from us!”

This is, of course, pure fiction. To say America doesn’t need Canada is like saying a bakery doesn’t need flour. Canadian exports power American homes, fertilize American crops, and build American cars. The United States relies on Canada for 60 percent of its crude oil imports, 60 percent of its aluminum imports, and 23 percent of its steel imports. Without Canadian potash (85 percent), American crops would be devastated. Without Canadian nickel (46 percent), the American tech industry would slow to a crawl.

All of these critical imports, once duty-free, now face tariffs of 10–25 percent. Trump’s childlike grasp of economics and his thirst for chaos have thrown U.S. businesses, big and small, into turmoil, threatening every corner of industry and pulling the rug out from under our very infrastructure. Moreover, he’s endangered the largely symbiotic relationship with America’s continental BFF, sending Canada overseas to seek trade deals with more loyal friends, which will only further isolate the United States—and border towns like Point Roberts—until America eventually returns to the international community a lonelier, weaker, and diminished nation.