It's like a ghost town — that's how the owner of the Emerson Duty Free shop at the Manitoba-United States border describes the highway leading to the crossing once new tariffs kicked in.

Amid ongoing tariff talks between Canada and the United States, many Winnipeggers are taking actions of their own like canceling trips and focusing on shopping local.

The U.S. and Canada have had a friendly trading relationship for decades. Canada has been the largest export market for 36 states, including North Dakota. But now that tariffs are kicking in, The North Dakota Corn Utilization Council says corn farmers are becoming concerned over the rising costs and they hope for negotiations to be continued.

On Feb. 3, the U.S. Travel Association estimated a 10% reduction in Canadian tourist visits would result in $2.1 billion in lost travel spending and 14,000 job losses nationwide following the Trump administration’s first salvo on tariffs.

United States tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports took effect on Tuesday. The levies, set at 25 percent by US President Donald Trump, have been followed by the doubling of duties on Chinese goods to 20 percent. Levies on Canadian energy are limited to 10 percent.

Trump has pushed pause on proposed tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico, but that could end in early March.

Canadian leaders have pledged retaliatory efforts against tariffs imposed by President Trump, such as blocking electricity exports.

Farmers are bracing for heavy impacts from those tariffs. Canada, Mexico, and China are three of the largest buyers of American crops, and the tariffs Trump has placed on imports from those countries have caused them to respond with retaliatory levies.

But Marie Downing was Cinderella in reverse — leaving the opulence of Queen Victoria’s court in 1887 to become a modest farmer’s wife in rural America. It was a colossal culture shock from the Victorian finery of London to the blustery acres of Rolla, Dakota Territory. Yet, in her old age, Marie said she did it for love and would do it again.

U.S. tariffs that kicked in this week for China, Canada and Mexico will mean some hardship for North Dakota farmers, according to the leaders of North Dakota’s Farmers Union and Farm Bureau. “We will be the number one state that’s hit the hardest,