\n<\/p>\n
O<\/span>n a warm March weekend in the American border town of Lewiston, New York, bakery owner Aimee Loughran is putting the finishing touches on a special order: a state trooper badge-shaped cake for a local officer\u2019s retirement party.<\/p>\n It should be the last task of a busy Saturday at her Just Desserts shop, which sits just 20 minutes north of the rushing waters of Niagara Falls. Dotted with cafes, restaurants and historic buildings from the 1800s, the Lewiston strip is usually catnip for tourists, including the Canadians whose homes can be seen from the banks of the nearby Niagara River.<\/p>\n Local demand for Loughran\u2019s cake and pastries, however, has not made up for a dramatic slump in tourist spending, triggered by a now year-long boycott by Lewiston\u2019s northern neighbours.<\/p>\n Angered by Donald Trump\u2019s hefty tariffs and annexation threats \u2013 and compounded by fears of border detentions and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) crackdowns \u2013 Canadians have stayed away, refusing to spend their hard-earned dollars in local border towns like Lewiston.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of our sales on the strip have gone way down,\u201d Loughran said. That has personally led to a 30% drop in revenues at her bakery, forcing the 41-year-old to cut spending, both at work and at home. \u201cEspecially as a single mom, it\u2019s very tough.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Local demand for Just Dessert\u2019s by Aimee has not made up for a dramatic slump in tourist spending.<\/span> Photograph: Brandon Watson\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Lewiston\u2019s once-bustling antiques sellers are also suffering. Judy, a 73-year-old former teacher who co-owns Antique to Chic with eight other enthusiasts, is losing hope that sales \u2013 which dropped 20% last year \u2013 might rebound anytime soon.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m angry that the Canadians don\u2019t want to come here any more. And I don\u2019t blame them. I was thinking yesterday, I wish I didn\u2019t live in this country, because I don\u2019t like it anymore. I don\u2019t like the news that I\u2019m hearing. I don\u2019t like the [Iran] war \u2026 It\u2019s too much for me to handle.\u201d<\/p>\n The Canadian backlash is a worry for businesses and politicians across the Niagara region, who have historically relied on visitors from provinces including Ontario and Quebec to shop, sightsee, gamble and watch Buffalo Bills football games. And Niagara\u2019s pain is cascading throughout the country, with Canadians thinking twice about crossing the border and planning trips to the rest of the US.<\/p>\n And with no warming of relations between Washington and Ottawa in sight, and with Trump continuing to call the prime minister, Mark Carney, a future \u201cgovernor\u201d of a future state of Canada, border town locals are trying to adapt.<\/p>\n For Niagara Falls\u2019 regional tourism agency, Destination Niagara, that has meant making the tough decision to stop advertising to Canadians entirely and instead focus on luring Americans from other states. \u201cOur dollars are so limited,\u201d John Percy, Destination Niagara chief executive, said. \u201cThey\u2019re important to us, but we [have to] concentrate on trying to bring visitors in.\u201d<\/p>\n Niagara Falls has heavily relied on Canadian day-trippers and weekend shoppers, particularly outside of tourist season. A favourable foreign exchange rate and much lower sales tax meant Canadians would cross the border regularly for cheaper essentials like milk, bread and gas, as well as to go shopping at US-brand stores.<\/p>\n Clothes shopping \u201cacross the line\u201d was so popular in the 1990s that Percy recalls putting donation bins in mall parking lots to gather Canadians\u2019 cast-offs. \u201cThey would come over and change clothes, literally in the parking lot, and dump their clothes \u2026 and drive away with new clothes in their car and their suitcase, with tags pulled off.\u201d<\/p>\n That shopping fervour continued into the 2010s, with the local Fashion Outlets mall having expanded in response to Canadian demand. \u201cYou\u2019d go in that parking lot, and you would think you were in Ontario because every license plate was a Canadian plate. And it was the same thing with our hotels,\u201d local hotelier Frank Strangio said. \u201cThey would come over, spend the weekend, get a room, spend the night, go out to dinner, go shopping, and it was great. And then they\u2019d go home.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Frank Strangio,\u00a0hotel owner and president of the Niagara Falls Hotel and Motel Association.<\/span> Photograph: Brandon Watson\/The Guardian<\/p>\n But that has all changed. A stronger US dollar and rising inflation stateside, meant Canadians were already cutting back on cross-border spending. Trump\u2019s aggressive anti-Canadian rhetoric and trades policies were the final straw.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re not coming any more,\u201d Strangio said. \u201cNow you\u2019re seeing boarded-up stores. What I\u2019m afraid of is that big huge mall in the middle that is part of our tax base is shut down\u2026and that\u2019s a trickle effect,\u201d Strangio said, noting that he has had to hire fewer hotel staff in the off-season due to a drop in Canadian visits.<\/p>\n There was a 21% drop in Canadians entering New York state in 2025, with more than 3m fewer visits than the previous year, according to reports citing New York governor Kathy Hochul\u2019s office. Personal vehicle crossings in the Buffalo-Niagara Falls area alone declined by 16.3%, a drop of 717,118 last year, bureau of transport statistics figures show.<\/p>\n <\/span>The Cambria Hotel, located in Niagara Falls.<\/span> Photograph: Brandon Watson\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Meanwhile, a recent poll by Globe and Mail newspaper found that only 9% of Canadians agreed that the US was a \u201ctrustworthy ally\u201d, and that 51% of those polled had cancelled American trips in reaction to comments by Trump.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2018ve never seen patriotism from that market in such a short amount of time\u201d, Percy said. \u201cAnd rightly so. I mean, if the tables were turned, we would be in the same position, if not worse.\u201d<\/p>\n And Canadians who are still crossing the border are doing so in secret. \u201cThey will not tell their neighbour or friends or family that they\u2019re coming to the US,\u201d Percy said. \u201cThey\u2019ll hide.\u201d<\/p>\n Niagara Falls mayor Robert Restaino, who has family and friends across the border, says he \u201cwinced\u201d every time Trump made disparaging comments about Canadians. \u201cHearing that they would be the 51st state and that Wayne Gretzky should be governor, and that the country would be nothing without us \u2026 I just saw no upside. You want to talk about our Nato allies all paying their fair share? I get that \u2026 But these other things, these personal opinions, they accomplished nothing and really just sort of set a bad tone.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Robert Restanio, mayor of Niagara Falls, in his office in city hall. <\/span> Photograph: Brandon Watson\/The Guardian<\/p>\n It compounded pain over the tariff fallout, which had already sparked criticism from Congress. New York senator, Chuck Schumer visited Niagara Falls last summer, where he lambasted Trump\u2019s trade war, saying tariffs were a \u201ca dagger aimed at the heart of upstate New York and at working families\u201d warning that tariffs were effectively a tax on \u201cevery citizen of America and western New Yorker\u201d.<\/p>\n As for Restaino\u2019s pivot, he is banking on sports being a more sustainable source of tourism that can sustain political strain. The city is currently planning for a $200m into a 6,000-seat events centre, that he hopes will host cross-border games for minor league, college level, or youth sports teams, be it in hockey, basketball, volleyball or lacrosse.<\/p>\n While there are rumblings of international boycotts of US-hosted games of the upcoming Fifa World Cup this summer, Restaino said he takes some comfort from the Olympics, where many nations \u201cdon\u2019t like each other \u2026 and yet when it came to sports, everybody was just kind of trying to get through\u201d.<\/p>\n But whether Canadians sports fans play ball remains to be seen.<\/p>\n Roughly 10-15% of Buffalo Bills season ticket holders are Canadian, the team said in September. But hotelier Strangio has noticed overnight stays from Canadian fans have dropped. \u201cEvery time there\u2019s a home Bills game, we get people from all over that come over and stay in our hotel because they want to see the Falls and make it a whole trip. And there are less Canadians than there used to be.\u201d<\/p>\n The fear now is over the long-term effects. \u201cEvery bit of market share that we lose internationally takes us that many more years to regain,\u201d Percy warned. And that is worrying when taxes have be drawn from tourism dollars. \u201cThose taxes in these communities that are affected, affect its police force, their fire and safety, streets, sidewalks \u2026 It\u2019s the number-one industry in Niagara county. It\u2019s number two in New York state now.\u201d<\/p>\n And there is no quick fix, at least not under this administration, according to Restaino. \u201cAt some point, our federal government has to humbly recognise that misstep. I don\u2019t know that that\u2019s possible in this current dynamic.\u201d<\/p>\n Back in Lewiston, the shift has been stark. A plaque at the nearby \u201cPeace Park\u201d commemorating the once-strong relationship between bordering communities declares: \u201cThis unfortified boundary between Canada and the United States of America should quicken the remembrance of more than a century old friendship between these countries. A lesson of peace to all nations.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Peace Garden, a symbol of the US\u2019s friendship with Canadians. <\/span> Photograph: Brandon Watson\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Today, some locals worry that old friendship is lost.<\/p>\n Kathleen Stefik, a 59-year-old Trump voter, said she personally feels the hostility from Canadians and has curbed her own trips to Canada in response. While she agrees with some of Trump\u2019s policies, including on immigration, she acknowledges that his rhetoric about Canada has been damaging. \u201cWhat a jerk \u2026 shut up, just stop. Be a president, act like a president.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On a warm March weekend in the American border town of Lewiston, New York, bakery owner Aimee Loughran is putting the finishing touches on a special order: a state trooper badge-shaped cake for a local officer\u2019s retirement party. 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