As cross-border traffic slows, the Border Mayors Alliance is calling on the federal government to support businesses along the border that are adversely impacted by the ongoing trade war with the U.S. – namely, duty free shops on the Canadian side of the border.
A number of these shops rely on Canadians purchasing products duty free prior to heading into the U.S., with some seeing business plummet by upwards of 80-per-cent – which could lead to upwards of one-third of duty free stores closing in the coming months, said a Border Mayors Alliance press release.
“It's the Canadian side duty free that'll feel the pinch of Canadian consumers not going across,” Mayor Matthew Shoemaker told SooToday.
“(There’s) definitely some relief needed from the . . . federal government because of the consequences of what they're asking everybody to do, which is to stay on our side of the border and shop Canadian-made products.”
While shopping Canadian is “great,” Shoemaker said domestic businesses hit by the surge in buying Canadian should be supported through the trade war.
“They need to also be supported throughout this process,” he said.
“What we're advocating for is going to directly reduce the business that they would otherwise have.”
Some smaller border communities across the country rely heavily on duty free business, he said, adding that a variety of measures – whether low-interest loans, or expanded EI, among others – could “help these places make it across the finish line.”
“It's very much a similar message to what we heard during the pandemic, which is that this is decreasing the retail, back-and-forth customer, so it needs a policy solution that's focused on how these impacts affect the duty free markets across the country.”
Willie Deplonty, who works at Sault Ste. Marie Duty Free, said even though the business stocks Canadian products, people can’t simply walk into the business to shop.
“We're kind of in a tough spot where people can't just come off the street and buy from here. You have to export everything that's in our store,” she said.
“We sell a lot of beer to Canadians, and they ‘export’ it to the U.S. and then come back.”
Business from the American side generally picks up in the spring, Deplonty said, with people coming across to enjoy the outdoors.
“Our busy season really starts in May, but hopefully we still get our American friends coming over,” Deplonty said. “Our Canadian business is right down.
“It's hard that one person has caused such a division.”
On the other side of the river, Duty Free Americas in Sault, Michigan declined to comment for this story.
