As the U.S.-Canada trade war drives up the cost of shopping trips south of the line and sends consumers in search of Canadian-made companies and products, some 91原创 businesses are seeing a rise in sales, said Chamber of commerce CEO Cory Redekop.

"There's places that have been locally owned and and very proud of that for a long, long time," Redekop told the 91原创 Advance Times. "And I'm pleased to see people paying attention to it now."

鈥淚 think we鈥檙e seeing more of our members kind of leaning into that and identifying, 鈥榟ey, we鈥檙e Canadian owned鈥�,鈥� Redekop commented. 

"Everyone's just attuned to shopping local and being aware of where their dollars are [going]. We need to be supporting our local companies."

After the U.S. imposed tariffs, the federal government put 25 per cent tariffs on 1,200 U.S. products popular with cross-border shoppers on March 4.

Since then, social media has been full of posts from travellers who report Canada Border Services officers have been issuing warnings about the tariffs to same-day shoppers without immediately charging them. 

They said they鈥檝e been told the only exemptions will apply under long-established regulations, up to $200 if they have been out of the country 48 hours, $800 if they have been out of the country for more than 48 hours. 

For years, the Greater 91原创 Chamber of Commerce has been arguing for an end to the common practice of customs officers waiving duty charges on day-trippers, people who aren鈥檛 charged even though they haven鈥檛 been away long enough for an exemption. 

鈥淭hat鈥檚 always been an irritant for us,鈥� Redekop remarked. 

鈥淚f tariffs are applied, we鈥檙e fine with them being applied fairly at the border for cross-border shoppers. There鈥檚 no real reason for shoppers to not be looking local right now.鈥� 

鈥淏etween the hassle of going down there, the dollar being in the tank, and now the tariffs being applied, I can鈥檛 imagine who in their right mind thinks it makes a lot of sense to shop in the States, regardless if you wanna support local or not,鈥� Redekop added. 

鈥淎t the end of the day, our priority is we want people to be shopping in 91原创, to be looking at their locally-owned businesses and trying to support jobs. Maybe finding some small businesses that I might not otherwise have thought to visit [or] instead of ordering through a big international online company, instead of going down across the border to get my eggs, I鈥檓 going to be doing that [here]. Not that you want eggs down there anyway, right now.鈥� 

A statement from the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) said the 鈥渃ountermeasures will apply to commercial shipments, goods imported by mail or courier, and goods imported by individual travellers above their personal exemptions. Surtaxes will remain in place until the U.S. eliminates its trade-restrictive measures against Canada.鈥� 

It added travellers can help speed up processing times by coming prepared with their travel documents and receipts in hand prior to arriving at the border. 

Goods included in the surtax order 鈥渁re not prohibited from importation; rather they are subject to a surtax, in addition to all other duties and taxes, to be paid upon importation.鈥� 

For personal goods, the surtax is assessed by the CBSA at the port of entry, while individuals shipping goods through the mail or by courier will pay upon delivery. 

A  subject to the surtax is available on Finance Canada鈥檚 website.