Trump's insults and tariffs strain relationships along the U.S.-Canadian border

DERBY LINE, VERMONT — This tiny village of 700 in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom is surrounded by rolling, green hills, and sits along the U.S.-Canadian border.

On Caswell Street, a granite stone marks the boundary. An American can reach out and almost touch the homes on the Canadian side, though a sign warns people that it's illegal to cross the border here.

A few steps away, a visitor can wander into the Haskell Free Library and Opera House, a handsome brick and stone Victorian building that straddles the border. Step over a black line painted across the floor near of the librarian's desk, and you enter Stanstead, Quebec.

"It was built intentionally to be able to re-unite both countries and both communities," said Sylvie Boudreau, president of the Haskell board.

Moving back and forth across the border used to be as simple as a trip to the corner store in these border communities, which have been intertwined for decades. Some stricter rules took hold after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but an informal agreement between the two countries allowed Canadians to enter through the library's front door, which meant crossing the border into America, no passport required.

Now, under new rules from the Trump administration, they can't do that anymore. So the library is retrofitting a back door on the Canadian side of the building. To pay for the renovation, the Haskell launched a GoFundMe page. The donations poured in.

“We received a lot of checks — a lot of money — from the United States," Boudreau said.

The library also received lots of apologies, she said, from Americans upset with the way President Trump has been treating Canada.

Since 1906, the Haskell has been a powerful symbol of cross-border friendship. But now Washington is stoking division, according to Boudreau, who said many of her Canadian neighbors don’t want to venture any closer to America than the library.

"They want to boycott the United States. Some are afraid to cross the border," she said. "It hurts me, and I get emotional."

Trump's trade war has created chaos and uncertainty around the world, while upsetting relationships with some of America's closest allies, including Canada — and residents on both sides of the border are now struggling with the new reality.

A Quebec resident, Boudreau said she spent 20 years working for the Canadian Border Agency, so she recognizes the need for border security. But she said the new rules and attitude coming from Washington harm communities along the border, which have a long tradition of close cooperation and friendship.

Her late husband was American, and like many people here, she saw the border as just a line on a map. But now it's keeping former neighbors apart.

A visit to the library earlier this year by U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, didn't help. Boudreau recalls that Noem stepped back and forth across the borderline, parroting her boss — Trump — referring to the Canadian side as "the 51st state."

"Being Canadians, we are all polite, so we didn't say anything," Boudreau said. But Noem's antics were "disrespectful," she said, and made her angry.

Trump's taunts and tariffs have soured the relationship between these two communities, complicating trade, and reducing border crossings.

"We're definitely seeing less Canadian traffic going south," said Stanstead Mayor Jody Stone.

The decline in border crossings has a direct impact on the local economy; it means fewer people filling up at gas stations or grabbing lunch at a coffee shop. And Stone expects the slow-down to extend into the normally busy summer travel season.

Not long ago, there were lines of cars at the crossing between Derby Line and Stanstead, keeping American and Canadian border agents busy. But on a recent visit by WBUR, there were no lines; officials on both sides of the border said the decline in traffic has been dramatic. According to the Canadian government, land crossings between the two countries are down by as much as 48%, while summer flight bookings are down more than 20%.

Stone said the rift between Canada and the U.S. feels like a couple going through a "break-up," after "one betrayed the other." He said Canadians feel a sense of "dueil," using the French word for "mourning."

"That's what we're going through," Stone said. "We had an economic relationship and a friendly-family-friends-allies relationship, as well. And I think that's what we're mourning."

That break-up is also being felt on the American side. Fritz Halbedl, who emigrated from Austria, and runs a restaurant and inn in Derby Line with his American wife, used to count on lots of Canadian customers, some of whom would just walk across the border for dinner.

"Thursday nights I have prime rib night, and the Canadians used to come," Halbedl said. But he hasn't taken a reservation from Canada since March.

"It's kind of stopped," he said.

Over the winter, Canadians dialed back skiing at Vermont's resorts. And fewer are visiting border towns like Newport, on the southern end of Lake Memphremagog, where Mayor Rick Ufford-Chase estimates a third of the summer business on Newport's Main street is supported by Canadian visitors.

Now, he says, that's gone.

"So on a tourism level, it's dramatic," he said.

Ufford-Chase, a Democrat, said he doesn't blame Canadians for feeling "frustrated, hurt, and offended."

"They're basically saying, 'we're not coming until you sort this out and figure out how to treat us with respect and dignity,' " he said. "Which is a totally reasonable expectation on their part."

Beyond the hurt feelings, Chase said Trump's on-again, off-again decisions on tariffs hurt business on both sides of the border. He calls the damage "stunning," and the result of an unnecessary crisis manufactured by Washington.

"Everyone's afraid to make any moves because they have no idea what's going to happen next," he said.

According to Ufford-Chase, many products manufactured in the region cross the border "three times in the making."

"Are we taxing those products every time they go back and forth across the border?" he asked.

Despite what feels like a split, there's also determination to keep these communities together.

This week, representatives from the American side of the border will meet with their counterparts from Stanstead to try to affirm their historically close friendship. Brian Smith, a Republican member of the select board in the town of Derby, said he plans to attend the meeting. He's a big supporter of Trump, but even he acknowledged that Noem went too far with her taunts about a 51st state.

"She might have overstepped her boundary, so to speak," Smith said with a chuckle. "I want Stanstead to know that we are still one big community, as far I'm concerned."

Stone, the Mayor of Stanstead, agreed. He said his beef is with Trump, not with the town's neighbors to the south. He believes lots of Canadians feel that way, which led to the election of the liberal Mark Carney as prime minister. Carney recently had an upbeat meeting at the White House, where he advised Trump that Canada is not for sale.

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Stone said Carney's victory — and the frustration along the Canadian side of the border — "has everything to do with Donald Trump."

"Saying that we were going to be the 51st state really scared a lot of Canadians, especially Quebecers," said Stone, who stressed that his French-speaking neighbors in Quebec are proud of their unique identity and culture. "We don't want to lose that."

But Stone said Canadians like him will always regard Americans as neighbors and friends. Even if there's now work to do to preserve that friendship.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that Brian Smith is a member of the select board in the town of Derby (Derby Line is a village within the town).