As the trade war escalates between Canada and the U.S., I’ve spent a fair bit of time trying to learn how our neighbours across the river are being impacted by it.
Barring a couple notable exceptions, I’ve often come up short – the Americans have been fairly tight-lipped, at least with me, about how all this is affecting them.
What I have learned, however, is that Sault Ste. Marie border crossings dropped from over 70,000 this January to under 60,000 this February, with last month’s figures dropping 13.5 per cent year-over-year compared with February 2024.
That drop in traffic lines up with President Trump taking office, and with the surge in patriotism and ‘Buy Canadian’ sentiment we’ve seen on our side of the border, soon after he began threatening tariffs and calling for Canada to become the ‘51st state’.
I’ve learned that $2.8 billion in trade took place at our border last year, and that there was a 14.6 per cent drop in trade at the border in December 2024 – the most recent month data is available.
That December drop in trade, too, lines up with Trump’s election and the beginning of the tariff threats ahead of his inauguration, but it’s hard to say whether the two are directly related or whether the drop falls within the usual wax and wane of trade over any time period. I have no idea.
I’ve called officials in Sault, Michigan and at the state level; I’ve asked a number of businesses how the drop in traffic is impacting them, if at all, and I’ve tried to learn how many homes Ontario provides power to in the Upper Peninsula specifically – in case Premier Doug Ford ever does make good on his electricity threats.
I’ve also tried contacting industries that make up our cross-border trade to see what their plans are moving forward.
Unfortunately, I’ve got nothing. But I’m going to keep digging – and I’ll tell you why.
During my first week at SooToday last month, I was sent out to see if I could photograph American helicopters flying over the city’s airspace, carrying out proactive border patrols – something I found a little surprising and concerning.
If you still remember, what feels like a thousand years ago, in February, there was big talk about Canadian fentanyl flooding the U.S., and that all we had to do to avoid tariffs was shore up our borders and stymie the flow of the drug stateside – which, I’ve since joked, those American helicopters were ostensibly hunting for on the streets of Sault Ste. Marie.
A month later, we all know how that went.
Despite the fact that less than one per cent of the fentanyl that enters the United States comes from Canada, and despite our federal government’s $1.3 billion plan to nonetheless crack down even harder on fentanyl, we’re still faced with near daily tariff threats and insults to our country’s sovereignty.
Regardless of the facts, regardless of the promises, the unsubstantiated whims of a single rogue president can put American choppers in the sky above our Canadian city, as he crusades to usher in the next American ‘Golden Age’.
As a result, I’ve become borderline obsessed with any and all information on this front – particularly here.
I have a few hunches: the twin Saults are a rare example where the Canadian side far out-populates the American side, and I imagine the overwhelming solidarity shown on this side of the border is going to cause a fair bit of economic pain across the river.
I also know that Michigan largely voted Republican in their recent election, and I have a feeling this situation may lead to a certain cognitive dissonance where hope for a Trump-delivered ‘Golden Age’ does not line up with the economic realities they might face if this trade war becomes a drawn-out, protracted affair.
Should that become a reality, it’s going to be really important to have facts and information on our side.
However, as the White House spews slanted information and noise – endless noise – into the headlines each and every day, our friends across the river have so far been rather quiet about the situation between our two countries.
I guess I’ll just have to keep asking questions.
If you're in Sault, Michigan, or in Sault, Ont., and want to discuss the trade war's implications, please send me a message - [email protected].