Q&A: How the mayor of an American border city is handling the trade war

CBC News

· Posted: Mar 16, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 1 infinitesimal ago

Sarnia, Ontario and Port Huron, Michigan person a adjacent relationship. They stock a border, and Canadians often transverse it to devour and store and enactment successful the U.S. 

But that's not happening arsenic often these days, since Donald Trump started a commercialized warfare with Canada. 

London Morning big Andrew Brown spoke to Anita Ashford, the politician of Port Huron, to perceive however this is being felt successful her city. 

The pursuing interrogation has been edited for magnitude and clarity.

Andrew Brown: How is each of this commercialized concern going implicit successful Port Huron?

Anita Ashford: It's astir apt the aforesaid happening you each are feeling. We're conscionable benignant of perplexed astir the concern lawsuit down each of this. I haven't talked to anyone who is really excited astir each this and wherever it's going. So we're beauteous overmuch wondering what's next, and what's going on. 

AB: How bash you spot the narration betwixt Sarnia and Port Huron?

AA: I americium a champion of Sarnia. I did get a telephone from idiosyncratic successful Sania, telling maine that they would not beryllium coming implicit present anymore due to the fact that of the tariffs. I talked to him concisely and I told him I respected him, and helium had to bash what helium had to do.

Our arms are ever open, wide open, for our neighbours. We person radical (from Canada) that really enactment present connected a time to time basis, and they're inactive coming over. I'm conscionable hoping thing oregon idiosyncratic tin get immoderate consciousness present and chopped this worldly out. In my opinion, it's conscionable unnecessary. 

AB: What bash you deliberation Donald Trump wants here?

AA: I don't deliberation that's been communicated. I haven't a clue. I don't person abstraction successful my bosom to adjacent deliberation that benignant of stuff. It's rather the dilemma that we've been thrown into. And erstwhile you deliberation astir the consequences wherever this is each leading, it conscionable seems similar a large waste. 

AB: How astir the restaurants and businesses successful Port Huron. How overmuch bash they depends connected Canadians crossing the borderline and spending money?

AA: That helps, it ever helps. I don't person an nonstop number, but immoderate clip you person this benignant of situation you're going to person those benignant of results wherever the system is going to instrumentality a hit. 

AB: What are the radical successful Port Huron telling you?

AA: They're conscionable acrophobic and wondering wherever it's going. That's the pulse. We conscionable don't cognize wherever this is going to end. We bash cognize that we're not positioned to support supporting a [trade] war. You privation to find retired wherever that communal crushed is, however we tin beryllium talking to each different and making things better. What is it? That's what the radical request to know. We request to effort to enactment arsenic affirmative arsenic we can, and hopefully this tin each beryllium resolved.