The Canadian Response to the U.S. President’s Disruption of our Special Relationship

Peace Bridge connecting Buffalo, NY to Fort Erie, Canada

First published November 7, 2025

Alice Jo and my fondness for Canada and Canadians reflected our living in close proximity to that country for most of our lives. As children in Buffalo, New York at the junction of the eastern end of Lake Erie and the origin of the Niagara River, our families had a summer home in Canada on the north shore of Lake Erie. The Maisels (Alice Jo’s grandparents) had their home in Waverly Beach, and the Silversteins (my grandparents) had theirs in Bay Beach, adjacent to Crystal Beach. We drove to those sites across the Peace Bridge, which connected Buffalo to Fort Erie, Canada, and from there, a 20-minute drive to Waverly Beach or a 40-minute drive to Bay Beach.

We did not meet until Alice Jo was 17 and I was 20 years old. The summers in Canada in my childhood substituted for camp. Alice Jo went to camp in Maine, but spent time at her family’s Canadian beach house before and after camp. Many of our friends from Buffalo had summer homes in one or the other site. The summer experiences were idyllic: wonderful beaches, crystal-clear water, friends with beachfront homes, ChrisCraft speedboats, sailboats, a wonderful amusement park in Crystal Beach, which also had a large dance hall where the big bands of that era would play. One of the parties held the weekend of our wedding in June 1957 was in the top-floor ballroom of the Sheraton Brock hotel in Niagara Falls, Canada. The American and the Canadian (horseshoe) falls were evident from that vantage point and illuminated at night. The film “Niagara” with Marilyn Monroe featured the hotel. It still is flourishing.

After our marriage, when we moved to Rochester, New York, we still frequented the great cities of Canada. Most often, we visited Toronto, which was 40 miles away as the crow flies across Lake Ontario, but a three-hour drive around the western end of the lake. It had wonderful legitimate theater, opera, restaurants, and a vibrant urban life, which was attractive to American visitors.

The Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the Lake, Ontario, and the Stratford (Shakespearean) festival in Stratford, Ontario, were annual summer events for us. They offered beautiful venues and great theater. The Shaw festival has four theaters with usually a Shaw play in one and other plays in the others. The Stratford Festival also has four venues with several Shakespearean plays during the season and a wide variety of other legitimate theater, simultaneously. The troupes in these two venues were of superb quality. The productions, staging, costumes, direction, and acting were as good and usually better than anything we have ever seen on Broadway or the West End in London. Alice Jo and I took our first visit to the Stratford Shakespearean Festival in 1954 and went yearly after we settled in Rochester. The Festival opened in 1953; its first director was Tyrone Guthrie, and the first play was Richard III starring Alec Guinness.

Stratford Shakespearean Festival

The warm, productive, and mutually beneficial relationship of Americans with Canadians was enduring for over 175 years.

Our president’s gratuitous threat to make Canada the 51st State, his hostile discourse, and the imposition of high tariffs on our (formerly) closest friend and ally has led to a rupture in this longstanding warm and constructive relationship. The effect has been a profound change in the attitudes of Canadians toward America. Bellicosity in high places can do that, especially when exercised by someone known to have strong misanthropic inclinations.

Trips to the U.S. from Canada by car decreased by nearly 36% in August 2025, marking the eighth consecutive month of year-over-year declines. In August 2025, air travel to the U.S. declined by 25% from the same month in 2024. A survey indicated that 56% of Canadians have said they will not travel to the U.S.. Boycotts of American products in Canada have become commonplace. The absence of Canadian travelers to the US, the loss of their spending in this country, and the boycott of American products in Canada have had a significant negative impact on American business.

U.S. regions and border towns reliant on Canadian day-trippers, shoppers, and tourists are experiencing significant downturns in retail and hospitality revenue. States like Florida, California, New York, and Nevada, which are destinations for Canadians, are particularly affected. Canadians historically made up the largest share of foreign homebuyers in the U.S. The boycott has led to a dramatic fall in property investment and a decline in the U.S. rental market in popular snowbird destinations. "Buy Canadian" campaigns and apps designed to identify U.S. products has led to an increase in sales for Canadian domestic goods and a decline in sales for U.S. products. Air Canada has added more international routes as Canadians choose alternative destinations like Europe and the Caribbean.

All this because of the misguided behavior of one powerful man. The Presidency of Teddy Roosevelt was a bully pulpit. The Presidency of Donald Trump is a bully’s pulpit.