INTERNATIONAL FALLS, Minn.—This Northern Minnesota town is famous for its giant Smokey Bear statue, its cold weather and a cheeky nickname—“Icebox of the Nation.”
Less well-known is that it has a twin, Fort Frances, Ontario, just across what a city website calls “the friendliest border in the world.”
“They’re basically Northern International Falls, and we’re Southern Fort Frances,” said Harley Droba, 46, a downtown business owner and former mayor of International Falls. “I mean, we are one town of 12,000 people.”
Now, that tightknit bond could fray, as the U.S. and Canada plunge headlong into a trade war. Adding to the drama: President Trump’s musings about Canada as the 51st state are setting free wild guesses about what could come next.
“So we’re both going to have to change our name. They’ll be National Falls and we’ll be Fort Frances, Minn.,” cracked Heather Johnson, executive director of the Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce.
The two cross-border cities are like neighbors who borrow cups of sugar—or maple syrup. International Falls residents play golf in Canada because the U.S. side lost its course. Fort Frances denizens go to movies in the U.S. The pair have long held a multiday celebration that covers both Canada Day and the Fourth of July. For years, the two also competed in an annual summertime tug of war across the Rainy River that sent the loser into international waters.
Promotions for Rainy Lake, a fishing and recreational mecca bordering both towns, have touted the idea of a “two-nation vacation.”
“We have our rivalries when it comes to sports and stuff especially on the hockey side,” said Alex McQuarrie, 37, an owner of The New Home Appliances Store in downtown Fort Frances. Competition between the Fort Frances Muskies and the International Falls Broncos high-school hockey teams is fierce. But, “we’re definitely sister communities.”
Johnson, of the Fort Frances chamber, crosses the border every Monday night to bowl in a mixed league of men and women—Americans and Canadians. While in the U.S., she typically will buy gas and stop at the grocery store for items she can’t find back home, such as Bugles to top off her favorite holiday dish.
Her daughter-in-law is American and lives with her son in Canada—one of many ties that make the two cities seem like a big family that is now in an uncomfortable spat.
“We just always assumed we were best friends, and so it’s been a little bit of a shock. We’re just a little hurt,” she said.
President Trump this week imposed 25% tariffs on most goods from Canada and Mexico. Canada responded with its own tariffs. On Thursday, the U.S. paused tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods covered under a previous trade deal until April 2.
Droba, the former International Falls mayor who owns Flowers on Main Street and The Library Bistro, said he and other business owners are already feeling the effects.
“We’ve seen a drop in our numbers and you can listen to it in the restaurant. I mean, the Canadians that are coming over, that’s their No. 1 conversation,” he said.
“There’s worry in the air for sure,” said Isaac Johnson, 26, owner of Coffee Landing Cafe in downtown International Falls, where he says residents gather “to try to solve the world’s problems—and they think they do.”
Chief among the quandaries is the question of how long the tariffs will last and what ripple effects might follow.
“It’s the uncertainty of the unknown. This has been a bit of a pinball: Where are these tariffs gonna land, what’s gonna be included and what’s excluded?” said Drake Dill, 35, International Falls’ current mayor, who said he has met with his Fort Frances counterpart to discuss potential joint actions.
The town’s largest employer, a mammoth paper plant that snakes along the downtown riverfront, relies on Canadian timber for some of its pulp, meaning tariffs could significantly raise costs.
The plant’s owner, Packaging Corporation of America, declined to comment. An industry trade group said this week that it “remains concerned that new North American tariffs have potential to seriously disrupt our industry’s complex, cross-border supply chains.”
Meanwhile, small-business owners like Leanne Guba, owner of Hometown Hobby and Crafts, are facing their own supply-chain issues. She has held off placing orders with some of her Canadian manufacturers.
“I’m watching the eyeballs, the bells and the chenille stems (aka pipe cleaners),” she said, ticking off craft-project must-haves. “This company carries a lot of stuff and I can get a good price on them.” But with the hefty tariffs on everything coming in from Canada, she wants to wait until she knows she absolutely needs more.
But Canadians are also fighting back. Some grocery stores are now labeling products by country of origin, so Canadians can boycott American-made goods.
“Buy Canadian is very big in Canada right now,” said Johnson, of the Fort Frances chamber. “Some companies are seeing their volume shoot way up.”
Nancy Imhof, owner of a clothing shop called Mason’s on Main in International Falls, said she hopes the conflict ends quickly. She said she’s noticed some of her regular Canadian customers have been scarce of late.
“I don’t know if there’s animosity. I don’t really feel like our customers would feel that way towards us. Whether or not, to prove a point, they stop coming, that kind of remains to be seen,” she said.
Pam Williams, owner of 4 Your Pets, in Fort Frances, said customers began asking which of her pet-food products were made in Canada about a month ago.
“Mainly, most of my treats and my food were all Canadian. I did have a couple of stuff that was made in the U.S., which now they don’t want, and I have, like, one from Italy, which they don’t mind. Italy is fine.”
Joseph.Barrett@wsj.com
