REGIONAL— If you’re thinking of traveling to Canada this summer to fish or explore the backcountry, or if you’re planning to spend time at your remote cabin north of the border, it might be a bit more complicated than in the past. Getting across the border may not be as easy and it could cost more than in recent years, depending on the outcome of the ongoing dispute between the U.S. and Canada over President Trump’s trade war.
At the same time, those looking to cross the U.S.-Canada border by obtaining a Remote Area Border Crossing permit may be out of luck depending on the outcome of an ongoing review of that program, which allowed qualified foreigners to enter Canada along remote sections of the border. No section of the two nations’ border is as remote as the 260-mile stretch of wilderness waterways located between Grand Portage and International Falls.
According to Canadian authorities contacted by the Timberjay, those who already had a remote area border crossing permit, issued after Sept. 1, 2023, can continue to use that permit through Dec. 31, 2025, to cross the border anywhere between Pigeon River and any portion of Lake of the Woods.
Applications for new remote permits are being accepted but will not be processed until the ongoing review is completed. That’s according to Luke Reimer, a spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency. Without a permit, anyone entering Canada will need to do so through an existing port of entry with a customs office. The Prairie Portage and Cache Bay stations in the Quetico Provincial Park do not have customs services and so are not considered ports of entry without a viable remote access permit.
At the same time, Canada will be assessing duties for the first time in years on consumable items, such as food and alcohol, brought into the country by travelers. Canadian officials say that’s in response to “unjustified U.S. tariffs” on Canadian products imported into the U.S. The Canadian duties will not apply to goods brought temporarily into Canada, such as vehicles and personal items in amounts that fall within personal exemptions.
But travelers hauling groceries into Canada will want to be aware of the duties and have receipts to show the value of the products.
The situation has left area outfitters, who frequently serve customers wishing to travel into Quetico Provincial Park or other Canadian waters near the border, scrambling.
“It’s certainly something we’re discussing,” said Tim Barton, outfitting manager with Piragis Northwoods Company in Ely. “We’re trying to be positive and hoping for cooler heads to prevail.”
The ongoing dispute over Trump’s tariffs on a wide range of Canadian products, along with his suggestion that the U.S. should absorb their northern neighbor as the 51st U.S. state, have raised tensions between the two longtime friends and allies.
Canada has responded to the U.S. imposed tariffs with its own retaliatory duties on American goods.