At the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, a quote from former President Ronald Reagan is engraved on one wall. “Let the 5,000-mile border between Canada and the United States stand as a symbol for the future,” Reagan said upon signing a 1988 free trade pact with America’s northern neighbor. “Let it forever be not a point of division but a meeting place between our great and true friends.”
But a point of division is here. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump plans to impose a 25% tariff on most imported Canadian goods and a 10% tariff on Canadian oil and gas. Mexico is also facing a 25% tariff. Canada has said it will retaliate with a 25% import tax on a multitude of American products, including wine, cigarettes and shotguns.
The tariffs have touched off a range of emotions along the world’s longest international border, where residents and industries are closely intertwined. Ranchers in Canada rely on American companies for farm equipment, and export cattle and hogs to U.S. meat processors. U.S. consumers enjoy thousands of gallons of Canadian maple syrup each year. Canadian dogs and cats dine on U.S.-made pet food.
The trade dispute will have far-reaching spillover effects, from price increases and paperwork backlogs to longer wait times at the U.S.-Canada border for both people and products, said Laurie Trautman, director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University.
“These industries on both sides are built up out of a cross-border relationship, and disruptions will play out on both sides,” Trautman said.
Even the threat of tariffs may have already caused irreparable harm, she said. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has urged Canadians to buy Canadian products and vacation at home.
The Associated Press wanted to know what residents and businesses were thinking along the border that Reagan vowed would remain unburdened by an “invisible barrier of economic suspicion and fear.” Here’s what they said:
Skagway, Alaska-Whitehorse, Yukon
People flocked from the boomtown of Skagway, Alaska, to Canada’s Yukon in search of riches during the Klondike gold rush of the late 1890s, following routes that Indigenous tribes long used for trade.
Today, Skagway trades on its past, drawing more than 1 million cruise ship passengers a year to a historic downtown that features Klondike-themed museums. But the municipality with a population of about 1,100 still holds deep ties to the Yukon.
Skagway residents frequently travel to Whitehorse, the territory’s capital, for a wider selection of groceries and shopping, dental care, veterinary services and swimming lessons. The Alaskan city’s port, meanwhile, still supports Yukon mining and is a critical hub for fuel and other essentials both communities need.
“It’s a special connection,” Orion Hanson, a contractor and Skagway Assembly member, said of Whitehorse, which sits 110 miles (177 kilometers) north and has 30,000 people. “It’s really our most accessible neighbor.”
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