A Washington state community, which is geographically part of Canada, has become collateral damage in the Canada-U.S. trade war.
Point Roberts is a community of about 1,100 people and it is located just south of Tsawwassen.
However, it relies on British Columbia for much of its commerce.
“Half of us here are dual citizens, including me — Canadian and American, half of us,” Point Roberts resident Brian Calder and former president of the Point Roberts Chamber of Commerce told Global News.
“So there’s 500 of us here that have very strong ties to Canada. And I get that they’re upset and angry that their sovereignty is being threatened for no good reason whatsoever.
“And the animosity and the apprehension, the anger is very, very detrimental to Point Roberts. They stay away.”
Calder said Canadians make up 90 per cent of Point Roberts’ market.
The community even made bumper stickers to say ‘Point Roberts supports Canada’ as they want to show their support and they want Canadians to cross the border and help boost their economy.
“It’s absolutely devastating for Point Roberts businesses, those that are left because we lost half our businesses in the COVID 20 months lockdown, they couldn’t carry themselves through that long period of time,” Calder said.
“And of those left, now, they’re just barely hanging on.”
Calder said they also rely on British Columbia a lot in cross-border trade.
“All our building materials come from Greater Vancouver, Surrey, Langley, Richmond. And so our roofing, our concrete, all those things come from Canada, British Columbia,” he said.
“And so it’s devastating if we now have to try and source, try and source, in Bellingham and pay the 25 per cent tariff coming through or whatever and it’s still uncertain.”
Get breaking National news
Calder said Point Roberts residents consider British Columbians and Canadians brothers and sisters, not just neighbours.
“We didn’t do anything wrong. They didn’t do anything wrong. Why are we in this mess? It’s absolutely stupid and it’s not productive and it’s not necessary or needed. And no one wins.”
Calder said tensions are high on both sides of the border but some residents have expressed that they are facing hostility when they cross into Canada, which is part of the reason for the bumper sticker.
“We’ve had people actually try and push people over in traffic,” he said. “We’ve had people confronted down at the drug store in Tsawwassen. ‘What are you doing here? Get back to your own (country)’. We don’t have a drug store.”
It is unclear if B.C. Premier David Eby would tax trucks crossing the border between Point Roberts and Tsawwassen as he has stated they will for trucks using B.C. infrastructure and travelling to Alaska.
“Our businesses are on the ropes now,” Calder said.
“We’re done. And especially if they get into the energy sector, all of Point Roberts is served by BC Hydro for electricity and Metro Vancouver water. If they cut that off, it’s done. It’s over. We’re done.
“We can’t survive without access to water and power for heat and light, and we have no alternate source. We can’t get it from Bellingham or Blaine. Period.”
Calder said Point Roberts has no drug store, vet, dry cleaner or car wash, to name a few, so residents access Greater Vancouver for services and products all the time.
-
‘It’s called flexibility’: Trump pushes back on questions over ‘inconsistent’ U.S. tariff policy -
Person of interest named in missing U.S. spring breaker in Dominican Republic -
Infowars reporter Jamie White shot dead in Texas parking lot -
Canada has responded with more retaliatory tariffs Wednesday after the latest round of tariffs from the U.S.
Dave Duncan is the store manager of the Point Roberts International Marketplace.
He told Global News that since the trade war started, there has been a lot of uncertainty around what residents can bring back that will be struck by tariffs.
“A lot of people started selling off their properties down here,” Duncan said.
About 60 per cent of their clientele is Canadian and he added that with people selling their properties or spending less time in Point Roberts, visitors are down 20 per cent compared to this time last year.
“When you go from 500 customers a day to 250 customers a day, yeah, you don’t have a need for having lots of stuff on the shelves,” Duncan said.
“But at the same time, the person coming in once (who) wants a gallon of milk and we don’t have a gallon of milk, or we don’t have the particular potato they’re looking for, it’s really difficult with the perishable items.”
Duncan said things are not dire at the moment but they are close to being scary.
“If we don’t get our spring jump, say next Canadian long weekends and weather jump end of May or so, we might not be here in the fall. I don’t know.”
Tamra Hansen, owner of the Saltwater Café and the Pier Restaurant, told Global News that they have changed the name of their Americanos to Canadianos.
She said they are down about 55 per cent in business.
“We’re caught in the middle here,” Hansen said.
“And I appreciate the Canadians and I appreciate Washington state is a Democratic state. I appreciate Washington, but I understand the dilemma with the Canadians.”
Hansen said she is concerned that if things don’t change, then she is worried Point Roberts is going to become like an abandoned mining town after the Canadians picked up and left.