
Since President Donald Trump said he wanted to make Canada a US state with “economic force,” Canadians have boycotted the US.
Photographer: Alana Paterson for Bloomberg Businessweek
US Border Towns Are Being Ravaged by Canada’s Furious Boycott
Economically dependent on their northern neighbor, business owners in Washington state are laying off employees and shutting their doors.
Canada’s boycott of all things American has caused the US measurable pain. Airline bookings from Canada to its southern neighbor have dipped significantly from last year, and the Federal Reserve’s latest snapshot of the US economy noted widespread declines in Canadian spending.
But few places in the US are hurting more than the border towns of Washington state, where local economies are almost entirely dependent on the other side. “We do not survive without Canada. We just don’t,” Ali Hayton, owner of the main grocery store in Point Roberts, Washington, said at a roundtable meeting about the crisis on April 24.