Emerson border business seeing ‘evaporation of customers’ amid tariff trade war

Businesses near the Canada-U.S. border are feeling the immediate impacts of a trade war. CTV’s Danton Unger has the latest.

Businesses along the Canada-U.S. border are feeling the immediate impacts of a trade war with the U.S.

The parking lot at the Emerson Duty Free shop is nearly empty and the normally bustling border crossing is eerily quiet.

“I mean (it’s) an evaporation of customers,” said Simon Resch, the owner of the shop that sits right on the border with the U.S.

Resch’s family has been running the duty free shop for more than four decades. In all that time, he has never seen something like this.

“There’s really no passenger traffic at all,” he told CTV News. “Even with the pandemic, in very recent memory, this is unprecedented.”

In the wake of U.S. tariff, he said the traffic at the crossing has been reduced to a trickle – leaving his shop nearly empty.

According to federal data, more than $30.7 billion worth of goods went to and from the U.S. through the Emerson crossing in 2023. Resch said on a typical Monday or Tuesday, hundreds of trucks would be lined up on Highway 75 to make the trek.

Now, he said there are maybe a few dozen lined up at any given time.

The Manitoba Trucking Association said the average reduction in travel across the border in the aftermath of the tariffs has been between 20 per cent and 30 per cent.

“It’s just, quite frankly, the uncertainty of trying to figure out what the true impact is going to be,” said the association’s executive director, Aaron Dolyniuk. “So far, we’ve seen the largest hits in agricultural commodities.”

It’s not just Canadian casualties in this trade war. Americans are feeling the hit as well.

“It’s real trying times for both of our countries,” said Jackson Peterson, the owner of Mike’s Parcel Pick Up in North Dakota. “I hope the Canadians know that it is uncharted waters for U.S. citizens too. We don’t know what the future holds.”

He said the parcel service relies almost entirely on picking up and delivering U.S. goods purchased by Canadian customers.

“All of our business is Canadian customers,” Peterson told CTV News, adding he noticed a loss in sales when the tariffs were imposed.

“I’m not the only one. You ask a lot of businesses in Pembina or across the whole U.S.-Canada line with those little towns, a lot of our business is through the Canadian consumer and that supports our small towns and families.”

Peterson said he has seen business bounce back in recent days. With a Canadian flag flying outside his shop, he said he wants Canadians to know they are appreciated south of the border.

“Politics aside, I just want to say that we feel for you guys,” he said. “We hope as consumers and people, that you feel safe and that you feel loved by America, because we do truly appreciate your business.”

Back across the border, Resch said he hopes an end to this trade war will come soon.

“Donald Trump will not be the president forever in the United States. Canadians will continue to enjoy travel into the U.S. and a strong trade relationship – that’s going to continue.”