On the front porch of her tidy yellow house on Canusa Street — so named because it runs along the border with Canada in tiny Beebe Plain, Vt. — Jan Beadle recently removed the American flag and hung a Canadian one in its place.
Ms. Beadle, who has lived along the border for 71 years, hoped that the red maple leaf rippling in the breeze would send a message to her neighbors in the country across the way: I stand with you. And I’m sorry.
“I do feel like it reflects on me, somehow,” she said of President Trump’s frequent jabs at Canada, including his imposition of steep new tariffs and his talk of making it the 51st state. “As a kid, my family went to church in Canada. I went to the movie theater there, and to a youth club. We were just a group of kids together. We weren’t labeled as Canadian or American.”
The economic impact of Mr. Trump’s trade war with Canada is already palpable on both sides of the border. Economic data shows a steep drop-off in spending by Canadians at Vermont hotels and restaurants; normally, 750,000 Canadian visitors spend $150 million in the state each year. Governors of New England states plan to meet on Monday in Boston with leaders from five Canadian provinces to strategize about the strain in their trade relations.
But in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont, where many towns and villages sit close by the border, residents also fear the loss of a kinship that has run deep for as long as they can remember.
“This place is special,” said Mark Mohrmann, a longtime resident of Coventry, Vt. “The border has historically meant nothing here.”
Few in this pastoral, sparsely populated land could have imagined that tensions would escalate as quickly as they have. Since February, Mr. Trump has imposed 25 percent tariffs on some Canadian goods, and repeatedly asserted that Canada would be “better off” as the “51st state.” In response, Canadian officials retaliated by placing 25 percent tariffs on American goods.
The chill persisted last month when Mr. Trump met with Mark Carney, the new prime minister of Canada, at the White House. After Mr. Carney informed the president that Canada “won’t be for sale, ever” — noting hopefully that “the opportunity is in the partnership” — Mr. Trump told him, “Never say never.”
In places like Beebe Plain and neighboring Derby Line, Vt., the breakdown in relations has generated unexpectedly strong feelings. Embarrassment and sadness prevail on the American side. Anger and hurt dominate in Canada. Both places have long taken pride in the border-straddling library they share in Derby Line, where a strip of worn black tape across the floor is the only barrier between the two countries.
“It’s like you have a trusted friend who suddenly reaches out and slaps you,” said Alexandra Scott, a resident of Stanstead, Quebec, just across the border from the two villages. “It’s a shocking blow to our economy and psyche, and I don’t know if it will ever be the same.”
Ms. Scott, 67, who lives two blocks from the U.S. Post Office in Beebe Plain, had walked across the border to mail a package, as she often does, after showing her passport at the village’s small brick border station and declaring the purpose of her visit.
Such casual crossings have been a way of life for many on the Vermont side, too. Residents of Derby Line said they routinely crossed the border to shop at Canadian grocery stores, where eggs are often cheaper, or to savor the chocolate croissants at Auberge Le Sunshine, a cozy cafe in Stanstead.
“We share a water and sewer system; we play on a hockey team together; our French speakers switch to English when Americans come in,” said Jody Stone, the mayor of Stanstead. “When it comes down to it, we’re a big family.”
The issue turned personal for residents of the two towns this winter, when the Trump administration ordered new restrictions at the Haskell Free Library and Opera House, a beloved local symbol of their friendship. Canadian patrons had long been allowed to walk across the border to the library’s front door, in the United States.
But after Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, made a surprise visit in January, the administration said that practice would end, and Canadians would need to pass through the local border station with their passports.
In response, library leaders resolved to create a new Canadian entrance, a plan that has spurred an outpouring of support from both countries and $220,000 in donations.
Mr. Trump has robust support in the area. He won the town of Derby, which contains the villages of Derby Line and Beebe Plain, in the 2024 election; he also won every other town along the border in Vermont, despite losing the state to former Vice President Kamala Harris by more than 30 percentage points.
Arrests at the northern border increased sharply in recent years, though they have dropped since Mr. Trump took office. While some area residents have objected to the government’s construction of new border surveillance towers, others have welcomed the increased enforcement.
But even many residents who are Republicans, and enthusiastic fans of Mr. Trump, think of the library as a neutral zone, and believe the crackdown there went too far.
“I wouldn’t say it’s unanimous, but it’s pretty damn close,” said Brian Smith, 74, a lifelong resident of Derby and a 25-year member of the town’s governing board who described himself as a “full, 100 percent supporter of Donald Trump.”
A former Republican state legislator, Mr. Smith fondly recalled the fluid border of his youth: sneaking through the woods to buy beer in Canada; being asked by laid-back border agents which bar in Stanstead he was headed to. “They would say, ‘The Rock Cliff or the Del Monty tonight?’” he said.
Mr. Smith was troubled enough by recent events to call a joint meeting of officials from Derby and Stanstead, where they resolved to maintain their close relationship.
Canadians’ views of America matter deeply in the rural borderlands that count on their business. At Jay Peak, a ski resort five miles from the border in Jay, Vt., where half of all guests have typically come from Canada, Steve Wright, the general manager, has been tracking cancellations at its summer water park and golf course. He recently called 50 Canadian families to ask why they had not renewed their season passes.
“I thought it would be a mix of things,” he said, “but it was almost completely about the challenge to Canada’s sovereignty.”
In a message to Canadian patrons, Mr. Wright expressed empathy for their “difficult decisions.”
“I respect the difficulty of reconciling your love of a place with any political motivations keeping you from even this, the most special of places,” he wrote. “We’ll be here, as we always have been, when this particular tide turns.”
Concern about lost Canadian business extends far beyond northern Vermont; in Massachusetts, business with Canada, the state’s top trade partner, generates $13.5 billion per year.
In an interview, Maura Healey, the governor of Massachusetts, said that her state depends on Canadian lumber as it builds new homes to solve its housing crisis, and on Canadian energy to relieve rising heating costs. Canada generates more tourist visits to Massachusetts than any other country does, she said, and millions of New Englanders trace their origins to ancestors who came from Canada.
“The bond is economic, it’s cultural and it’s familial, given the number of people in New England with French Canadian heritage and relatives,” Ms. Healey said.
On Canusa Street in Beebe Plain, where Ms. Beadle and her neighbors next door both raised Canadian flags, it was hard to tell if their message had been heard — until a letter arrived at both their homes in March. Ms. Beadle’s was tucked under her welcome mat by a Canadian she did not know.
“A gesture like yours, choosing to display a Canadian flag in front of your home, touched my soul to tears,” the man, a resident of nearby Ogden, Quebec, wrote. “I drive on Canusa Street almost every day, and I was wondering how to express my gratitude.”
He included tickets to an opera performance to be held at the Haskell Library in September, where he will be among the singers.
“If you decide to come, don’t forget your passport, and please come and shake my hand at the end of the show,” he wrote. “It will be my honour to meet you.”
Jenna Russell is the lead reporter covering New England for The Times. She is based near Boston.
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