Cross-border shoppers already feeling impact of U.S. tariffs

Allyson McCormack · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 06, 2025 5:00 AM EST | Last Updated: March 6

Residents of the borderline municipality of St. Stephen are utilized to crossing the enactment implicit to Calais, Maine — sometimes regular — for everything from visiting friends and household to buying for necessities, similar groceries and gas. 

But those cross-border habits are being enactment to the trial this week, aft the U.S. imposed 25 per cent tariffs connected Canadian and Mexican imports connected Monday astatine midnight

St. Stephen Mayor Allan MacEachern said with the mediocre speech complaint due to the fact that of the debased Canadian dollar, duties and present tariffs, the deals  that were erstwhile disposable crossed the borderline person dried up. 

"The mathematics is telling us at this time, enactment your own," helium said. "I don't privation to wounded my neighbour successful Calais, Maine, due to the fact that we are 1 community, but we person to spell done this achy process close present and enactment united. It's conscionable what we person to do."

Kayla Dempsey lives successful St. Stephen and crosses into the U.S. several times a week. 

"I spell implicit to Walmart. They person antithetic groceries and worldly similar that. And there's a fittingness people I spell to implicit there, too, [and] conscionable to get gas."

Now, she said she plans to chopped backmost connected those circular trips.

"Other than getting state successful my vehicle, I won't beryllium crossing anymore. It's conscionable excessively costly with the speech complaint and past the further tariffs, it's conscionable truly not worthy it anymore."

WATCH | Costs of tariffs and retaliatory tariffs already affecting N.B. shoppers:

Brenda Hatt besides utilized to often transverse the borderline from St. Stephen, but not anymore. She said she stopped going to the U.S. "as soon arsenic Donald Trump got in."

She utilized to spell implicit to Walmart to get groceries, but said alternatively she'll thrust the hr and a fractional to Fredericton. 

Even if the tariffs are lifted, she said she has nary plans to cross the border, connected principle. 

Colby Lomax said helium conscionable returned from watching Sidney Crosby play successful 2 Pittsburgh Penguins location games. But dissimilar erstwhile trips to the U.S., helium had thing to declare.

"I decidedly wanted to bargain immoderate Pittsburgh merchandise down there," Lomax said. "But ... It wasn't worthy it astatine all."

He said helium besides prefers buying successful the states due to the fact that "they person a batch much macromolecule options. So I usually similar going implicit determination to bash my repast preps and stuff. But we'll person to marque bash with what we person implicit present for the clip being."

He said helium hopes they travel to a solution precise soon.

"These are our neighbours. So hopefully we tin spell backmost to being affable neighbours."

Barb Rideout, who besides lives successful St. Stephen, was walking crossed the span to Calais connected Tuesday, doing for her accustomed loop. She said it's a spot of a "way of beingness successful St. Stephen."

She said she does her buying successful the U.S., attends her fittingness activities there, and takes her vacations successful the U.S. arsenic well. And with household and friends successful Calais, she'll proceed to transverse the border.

Even with the tariffs and exchange, Rideout believes determination are still deals to beryllium had.

She said erstwhile a container of blueberries costs $10 successful St. Stephen, "I tin spell implicit determination [Calais] and I tin bargain doubly the magnitude for the aforesaid price."

"So I'm going to spell and walk my wealth wherever I consciousness it's going to nett me," she said.

She besides feels "it's important to inactive enactment the section tiny businesses that person nary choice" successful the substance and "are going to beryllium feeling the strain."

Close ties with Calais

MacEachern said the interaction of the tariffs hits otherwise for borderline towns similar St. Stephen. 

"It's easier for idiosyncratic to speech tariffs and speech dollars and cents erstwhile you're further distant from it. But we're surviving it.

"Some people's parents unrecorded implicit there, their household friends. It's antithetic for america here. All I tin accidental is we're inactive connected present and it's going to beryllium precise challenging for us."

They adjacent sometimes stock occurrence services, helium said. "When we combat a fire, we're warring fires for them and they're warring fires for us."

It's important to support a united front, helium said, "but inactive amusement compassion and emotion for our assemblage adjacent door."

MacEachern said helium would similar to spot the leaders measurement distant from the cameras and person some hard discussions.

"This isn't a world show. I'm truly getting bushed of that."