The Washington state border town of Lynden is used to Canadian visitors.
Located just eight kilometres south of the Canada-U.S. border, the city of 15,000 people has many cross-border businesses and cultural ties.
However, U.S. President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again trade war and the uncertainty it is causing does not appear to have the full support of everyone.
“I think that Mr. Trump has really affected our relationships,” one resident told Global News.
“And I mean, I’ve always felt that Canada was my sister, you know, my sister state. And so it’s very sorrowful for me.”
“I hate these tariffs. It breaks my heart,” a nearby Birch Bay resident said.
“Those are our friends and our allies. And to break faith and trust with the other, with Canada is horrible. And it’s not even a smart thing to do. Like it is not going to help us at all.
“I just want our Canadian neighbours to know how much we love them and that our president is not acting by our wishes or in our best interest at all.”
One veteran Global News spoke to said he thinks that the fear the Americans are feeling at the moment is palpable.
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“I think Trump is the worst thing that ever happened to our country, and probably to the modern world, in terms of the way his influence is erupting over our nation, national borders, and the terrible damage he’s doing inside the United States,” he said.
He lives in Bellingham, about 30 minutes drive south of Lynden, and he said he has been against Trump for years.
Trump visited Lynden as part of his campaign in 2016 and it was the only stop he made in Washington state.
According to My Bellingham Now, Trump still owes Whatcom County just over $50,000 for security costs during the rally.
Gary Slavin, owner of the Gateway 1890 Taphouse and Grill in Blaine, just south of the Peace Arch border crossing, told Global News that Canadians have been a steady part of their business.
“As far as the business part, you have to keep moving forward,” he said.
“I always say that we have to work together. It’s about communities working together and supporting each other, and whether it’s on this side of the border or that side of the border.
“We are a border town business. Just like the ones on the other side. And you have to support both sides.”
Slavin said he has not seen a big dip in business, but as spring and summer arrives he is worried about a potential drop in visitors.
“We try and do what we do here in Blaine,” he added.
“It’s a small town. We try and keep moving forward and try and put those things behind us. I mean, obviously things may change and affect it a little differently, but right now we’re here, we’re open, and we want to see people coming in.”
Laurie Trautman, director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University, studies the border between B.C. and Washington state.
“A lot of our oil refineries depend on Canadian crude, and we refine them down here and then we actually send that back up to Vancouver, largely as jet fuel for Vancouver International Airport,” she said.
“There’s a lot of examples, agriculture as well, but also, broadly speaking, the tech economy. You know, we have this pool of high-skilled labour that can really draw from both sides of the border.”
Trautman said she thinks B.C. and Washington state are committed to working together, no matter what.
“When things like this happen, disagreements between Canada and the United States, I sometimes think of the analogy that, for border communities, it’s sort of like our parents in D.C. and Ottawa are fighting, and we’re the ones suffering the consequences,” she added.
“Only now it feels like something closer to divorce than a fight. So, you know, I would say this is probably the worst Canada-U.S. relations we’ve seen since Canada became an independent country.”
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
‘I hate these tariffs’: Washington state border residents react to Trump decisions
