Are we still friends? US-Canada border towns face a strange new reality. (March 22, 2025)
www.csmonitor.com
... It's the end of an era for a library straddling the Vermont-Quebec border. The Haskell Free Library & Opera House, a century-old symbol of cross-border friendship, says the U.S. government is setting new protocols that limit Canadians' entry to the building that's partly on their turf.
Canadian officials and library leaders held an English-French press conference on the Quebec side Friday afternoon to highlight the library's legacy. Sylvie Boudreau, president of the library board, took a moment to squash rumors that people of both nations could no longer socialize inside.
"No," she said. "Inside the library is business as usual."
Still, altering library access is the latest American affront felt by Canadians. President Donald Trump has launched a trade war with tariffs, and is threatening more April 2. He's also claiming Canada is meant to be the 51st state.
As maple syrup season kicks off, Washington's rhetoric is souring relations in this border region that's long held close economic and cultural ties. But not all amity is lost. Several Vermonters interviewed here voice support for their neighbors to the north, while some in Quebec are distinguishing between a people and their president. ...
Hopefully, the friendship of the United States with Canada will survive the cold transactional approach of Pres Trump to our Friends to the north.
The longest non-militarized border in the world.
And Pres Trump looks to be out to destroy that.
Will this just turn out to be yet another thing he "knows nothing about?"