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Construction of Virginia’s tallest building slated for April

LS GreenLink USA will begin constructing the tallest structure in Virginia next month.

During Old Dominion University’s Maritime and Conference on Tuesday, ‘s managing director, Patrick Shim, revealed the company will break ground April 28 on its $680 million-plus offshore wind subsea cable facility in , the first of its kind in the United States.

A ceremony will be held that day, with Gov. Glenn Youngkin expected to be among those in attendance, Shim told Virginia Busienss. The LS Greenlink site will include a 750,000-square-foot facility with a 660-foot-tall tower needed to support the production of the massive .

LS GreenLink USA, a subsidiary of South Korea’s LS Cable & System, first announced the project in July 2024. Shim said the project will employ more than 330 people and be built on 50 acres of a 98-acre brownfield property in Chesapeake the company purchased for the development.

During the conference, Shim said he sees the tower and subsea cable manufacturing facility as the first of many phases of the project. However, he did not reveal details about what future phases might entail, saying those plans are yet to be announced.

of the project’s first phase will be completed in the third quarter of 2027, Shim said, with the site slated to be fully operational by the first quarter of 2028.

LS Greenlink wanted “to be in an area that’s very business-friendly” when speaking about the reasons why the company chose Virginia for the project.

Last year, LS GreenLink USA announced it was awarded $99 million in advanced energy project tax credits by the U.S. Department of Energy, and Youngkin approved a $13.2 million grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist the City of Chesapeake with the project.

Founded in 1962, LS Cable & System touts itself as a global leader in power and communication cables and systems, developing and providing cable solutions for power grids and communication networks. The company has over 6,500 employees and 35 subsidiaries in 17 countries.

Waymo plans to bring its driverless taxis to Washington in 2026

Waymo on Tuesday added Washington to its pioneering service’s steadily expanding list of U.S. markets, although passengers will have to wait until next year until they can take a driverless ride around the nation’s capital city.

For now, ‘s robotaxis will continue to map Washington’s streets and corridors with a safety driver sitting behind the wheel to take control of the vehicle if something goes wrong — a precaution required under the regulations currently in force in the District of Columbia.

That’s something Waymo already has been doing since it began sending out its robotaxis in Washington in late January after a brief trial run in the capital last year.

While the robotaxis continue to learn their way around the city, Waymo executives expressed confidence they will be able to work with regulators to clear the way for completely driverless rides at some point next year through its Waymo One app.

“We’re excited to bring the comfort, consistency, and safety of Waymo One to Washingtonians, those who work and play in the city every day, and the millions of people from around the world who travel to the District every year,” Waymo co- Tekedra Mawakana said in a blog post.

If Waymo’s ambitions pan out, Washington and Miami next year will be added to four other U.S. markets where its robotaxis are transporting passengers — Phoenix, Los Angeles, the Bay Area and Austin, Texas as part of a partnership with ride-hailing leader Uber. Waymo and Uber also are teaming up to begin dispatching its robotaxis in Atlanta later this year.

The growth has helped turn what began as a head-turning novelty in Phoenix and then in San Francisco into an increasingly common sight in the cities where Waymo operates. The company says it had provided more than 4 million driverless rides to paying customers through the end of last year, and is now providing them at a pace of 200,000 paid trips per week.

That has established Waymo as the early frontrunner in driverless technology while others are racing to catch up. Both Amazon and Tesla are gearing up to launch their own services in different U.S. cities while another ride-hailing service, Lyft, has announced plans to add robotaxis as an option in Atlanta and Dallas.

Waymo’s early lead in the still-nascent robotaxi market is a vindication of a technology that began as a secret project within Google in 2009 before it was spun off into a separate company owned by Alphabet Inc. in 2016.

Port of Charleston adds direct connection to Mediterranean market

The ‘s new ocean carrier deployments will be increasing from 25 to 29 weekly services.

The services will continue to include prime markets such as and , according to an SC news release. Two of the weekly services will be first-in-calls from Asia, one of which being the fastest transit from Vietnam to the South Atlantic. Three services will be first-in-call trips from Europe.

“The Port of Charleston serves as a powerful gateway for importers and exporters,” Barbara Melvin, SC Ports president and , said in the release. “Our highly productive operations deliver sustained fluidity to quickly work ships. We provide reliable port service so our customers can focus on running and growing their businesses.”

In April, MSC’s EMUSA service with SC Ports will offer a direct service with Turkey and Israel, the release said. MSC’s EMUSA service will provide a direct connection to Charleston for this key easter Mediterranean market.

Three first in-calls from Europe, representing all major ocean carriers in the , support manufacturers’ supply chains for this key Charleston trade lane.

In February, SC Ports handed 225,532 TEUs and 123,611 pier containers, increasing about 10% since February 2024, according to the release.

“ ranks No. 5 in the nation for both population and GDP growth. This will continue to drive and to our port,” Melvin said. “The Southeast is booming, and we are ready to support this growing market with 10 million TEUs of capacity on the horizon and an expanded intermodal network.”

Governor amends Virginia’s budget bill to increase rainy-day reserves over changes in Washington

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin said on Monday that he hoped to bolster Virginia’s rainy-day fund by $300 million in light of economic uncertainty surrounding the White House’s overhaul of federal jobs and its impact on the state’s workforce.

At a news conference, Youngkin announced he had more than 200 amendments to a bipartisan budget bill adopted last month by the Virginia General Assembly, including trimming state spending to add additional funds to Virginia’s coffers.

The $300 million would be on top of nearly $295 million already slated to be set aside over the biennium. Youngkin said the reserved revenue would give Virginia a cushion of $5 billion.

“It enables us to feel confident that if there is a bump in the road, we can deal with it,” he said.

Youngkin’s announcement comes after a mix of roughly 1,000 Virginian federal workers and contractors have filed claims for unemployment since the end of January after and adviser Elon Musk began cutting jobs and programs in Washington, state officials have said.

In addition to the budget amendment, Youngkin’s administration has created a job website and encouraged impacted workers to explore other opportunities in Virginia.

“President Trump has been very, very clear, and he has not shied away from the fact that there could and may be economic disruption in the short term,” Youngkin said. “As he resets things in Washington, I agree with him that we will have long-term opportunity, and that is going to be good for Virginia.”

Before 2025, Virginia was home to roughly 315,000 federal workers, according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Government. In the past few years, the state has done well economically — its state budget had a multibillion-dollar surplus, and more people were moving to the state than moving away, officials have said.

But, as the Democratic-led legislature gaveled out of its session, some acknowledged they may need to revise the budget in light of the fiscal cuts. Lawmakers announced they would expand a previously established special session so that they could reconvene later this year.

Following Youngkin’s announcement, Democratic Virginia House Speaker Don Scott blasted the governor for not protecting residents.

“We need a governor who will support Virginians,” Scott said in a statement, “not cave to Trump and Musk.”

Youngkin has until just before midnight on Monday to either sign, veto or seek amendments to all legislation sent to his desk after passing the statehouse earlier this year — including the budget bill, which amends the last year of the state’s two-year spending plan.

Lawmakers will then take up his revisions and vetos on April 2.

In his original budget presented in December, Youngkin proposed providing permanent relief by ending taxes on tips and cars for lower- and middle-income earners. The Virginia House of Delegates and Senate nixed his idea. Instead, they passed a budget that would give each taxpayer a $200 rebate.

On Monday, Youngkin said he would support the rebates, which had bipartisan support among lawmakers.

In the budget bill, lawmakers also scrapped Youngkin’s proffer to cut off funds toward local entities that do not fully comply with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Further, Youngkin originally allotted money for a $50 million “Opportunity Scholarship” program, which would provide low-income families with vouchers to send their children to private schools. Lawmakers tossed out that idea, too.

In his amendments, Youngkin added versions of those provisions back into the budget bill.

“I pared back my request: Let’s take $25 million, and let’s provide lower-income Virginia families an opportunity to pursue an alternative education path that might fit their family and their children’s best opportunities,” he said of the scholarship program. “Why not try it?”

Youngkin also said he added an amendment authorizing the consideration of establishing Oak Hill, the home of former President James Monroe, as a state park. A bill to that effect failed in the legislature during the session.

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Olivia Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Stock market today: Wall Street drifts ahead of report on US consumer confidence

NEW YORK (AP) — is holding steadier Tuesday after roaring the day before on hopes that President Donald Trump’s tariffs may not be as sweeping as earlier feared.

The was 0.1% higher in early trading after jumping 1.8% on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 58 points, or 0.1%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% higher.

U.S. stocks have recovered a chunk of their losses since falling 10% below their all-time high earlier this month, for their first “correction” since 2023. That drop has left them looking less expensive than before, which had been a major criticism following their euphoric rise in earlier years.

But strategists along Wall Street warn more sharp swings are still likely on the way with an April 2 deadline looming. That’s what Trump has called “Liberation Day,” when he will begin a global set of on trading partners that will roughly equal what he sees as the burden they put on the United States. Monday’s spurt for Wall Street came on hopes that Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs may be more targeted than had been feared.

Even if the tariffs do end up being less painful for the global than expected, all the dizzying talk about them has already soured confidence among U.S. households and businesses. The fear is that could lead them to cut back on their spending and freeze the economy. A report later on Tuesday morning will give another update on confidence among consumers, and economists expect it to show a drop.

So far, actual economic activity and the job market seem to be holding up despite the worsening moods of U.S. companies and consumers.

On Wall Street, homebuilder KB Home dropped 6.6% after reporting weaker profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Already mired in a slump, homebuilders are now faced with potentially rising costs due to tariffs, which they will have to pass on to buyers.

Spice seller McCormick also sank following a weaker-than-expected profit report. It fell 4.2% as it said it’s dealing with “current uncertainty of the and macro environment.”

Tesla was swinging between modest gains and losses and down 0.5% following more grim sales figures from .

European sales of Tesla electric cars were almost cut in half during the first two months of the year compared with a year earlier, even as the overall market for battery-powered cars grew, according to the European Automobile Manufacturers Association.

In addition to an aging model line, sales declines are also being blamed in part on Elon Elon Musk’s endorsement of Germany’s far-right party in last month’s national election, his embrace of fringe political movements, and a gesture during a Trump event in January that many saw as a Nazi salute. Tesla is also facing increasing competition from Chinese carmakers such as BYD.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in much of Europe following a mixed finish in .

In the bond market, Treasury yields were holding relatively steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged down to 4.33% from 4.34% late Monday.

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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

US consumer confidence tumbles for 4th consecutive month to 12-year low

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. confidence fell for the fourth straight month amid rising concern over tariffs and inflation.

The Conference Board reported Tuesday that its index fell 7.2 points in March to 92.9. Analysts were expecting a decline to a reading of 94.5, according to a survey by FactSet.

The Conference Board’s report Tuesday said that the measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for income, business and the job market fell 9.6 points to 65.2. That’s the lowest reading in 12 years. The Conference Board says a reading under 80 can signal a potential recession in the near future.

The proportion of consumers anticipating a recession in the next year held steady at a nine-month high, the board reported.

“Consumers’ optimism about future income — which had held up quite strongly in the past few months — largely vanished, suggesting worries about the and labor market have started to spread into consumers’ assessments of their personal situations,” said Stephanie Guichard, senior economist at The Conference Board.

While has retreated from the highs during the post-pandemic rebound, it has remained above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target. Those still-elevated prices, combined with ‘s announced on many imported goods, has Americans feeling sour about spending as concerns about the economy mount.

Consumers appeared increasingly confident heading into the end of 2024 and spent generously during the holiday season. However, U.S. retail sales dropped sharply in January, with cold weather taking some of the blame.

Earlier this month, the government reported that Americans modestly stepped up their spending in February after a sharp pullback the previous month.

The board reported Tuesday that consumers’ view of current conditions decreased 3.6 points to 134.5.

The consumer confidence index measures both Americans’ assessment of current economic conditions and their outlook for the next six months.

Consumer spending accounts for about two-thirds of U.S. economic activity and is closely watched by economists for signs about how the American consumer is feeling.

Company behind Chesterfield indoor farm files for bankruptcy

Plenty Unlimited, a -based agricultural technology company that counts tech billionaires Jeff Bezos and Eric Schmidt among its investors, has filed for but plans to continue operating its vertical strawberry farm in County throughout the restructuring, according to a company announcement.

“This is a challenging time for the vertical farming industry and Plenty is not immune from those challenges or market dynamics,” Plenty said in a statement to Virginia Business. “After evaluating all of our strategic alternatives, we have determined that pursuing a restructuring process is in the best interests of Plenty and all of our stakeholders. Through this process, Plenty will be better positioned to continue working toward our mission to make fresh food accessible to everyone, starting with the year-round of premium strawberries in our innovative in Virginia.”

In addition to its facility in Chesterfield’s , Plenty will continue operating its plant science research and development facility in Wyoming throughout the restructuring process.

A list of Plenty’s creditors holding the 30 largest unsecured claims, or debts not backed by collateral, included three Richmond businesses: Electrical Controls & Maintenance, which is owed more than $7.7 million;  Colonial Webb Contractors, which is owed more than $3 million; and Liphart Steel, which is owed more than $2.2 million, according to documents filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. Additionally, Montpelier’s C.T. Purcell Excavating is owed more than $877,000; Glen Allen’s Century is owed less than $500,000; and Virginia Beach’s Century Concrete is owed more than $300,000.

In the filings, Plenty claims to have assets worth between $100 million and $500 million and a similar amount in estimated liabilities.

Plenty has received a commitment of $20.7 million for debtor-in-possession financing, a type of funding for companies in Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company hopes the funding will provide it with the necessary liquidity to support its operations, according to the announcement released Sunday.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez issued an interim order allowing Plenty to obtain DIP financing Tuesday and scheduled a hearing for April 15.

Plenty’s Chesterfield operation opened the first farm on its 120-acre campus in September. It’s designed to produce more than 4 million pounds of strawberries annually in less than 40,000 square feet by growing the fruit vertically on 30-foot towers. The Virginia farm exclusively grows strawberries for California-based Driscoll’s, the world’s largest berry distributor. The Chesterfield indoor farm has had berries in market since January, according to a Plenty spokesperson.

An aerial shot of buildings and construction work surrounded by trees.
Plenty opened the first indoor farm on its Chesterfield County campus in September. Photo courtesy Plenty.

The farm uses artificial intelligence and other technology to grow produce in indoor spaces that aren’t subject to variables in temperature and weather conditions.

When Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced the project in 2022, Plenty planned to invest $300 million to create the vertical farm campus in Chesterfield, creating 300 jobs. Currently, Plenty has 66 employees, according to bankruptcy filings. Twelve full-time employees are paid hourly, while the rest are either full-time or part-time salaried employees.

Lopez on Monday issued an order allowing Plenty to pay wages, salaries and employee benefits owed prior to the Chapter 11  bankruptcy filing and to “continue the post-petition maintenance of employee benefit programs, policies and procedures.”

In December, Plenty announced plans to close its Compton, California, leafy greens farm, citing challenges stemming from the high cost of doing business in California, including expensive energy prices. That farm opened in 2023. In a post on LinkedIn, the company stated it planned to shift its focus to growing strawberries.

Dan Malech, Plenty’s interim , took over from Arama Kukutai, who left the company in late 2024, according to reporting by Bloomberg.

Malech, who joined Plenty in 2018 as head of legal, was named Plenty’s senior vice president of strategy and general counsel in 2021. Previously, Malech worked with company Zymergen.

AeroFarms, an indoor company based in Danville, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June 2023 but emerged from bankruptcy with a new CEO by September 2023.

In February, AeroFarms announced it commands 70% of the U.S. retail market share for microgreens.

 

23andMe files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as co-founder and CEO Wojcicki resigns

NEW YORK (AP) — has filed for Chapter 11 protection and its co-founder and has resigned as the struggling company continues its push to cut costs.

-based 23andMe announced on Sunday that it will look to sell “substantially all of its assets” through a court-approved reorganization plan.

Anne Wojcicki, who co-founded 23andMe nearly two decades ago, is also stepping down as CEO effective immediately, the company said — but will remain on the 23andMe board. Her resignation comes just weeks after a board committee rejected a nonbinding acquisition proposal from Wojcicki, who has been trying to take the company private.

And Wojcicki intends to still bid on 23andMe as the company pursues a sale through the bankruptcy process. In a statement on social media, Wojcicki said that she resigned as CEO to be “in the best position” as an independent bidder.

“There is no doubt that the challenges faced by 23andMe through an evolving business model have been real, but my belief in the company and its future is unwavering,” she later added.

23andMe has faced an uncertain future for some time. Beyond battles to go private, the company struggled to find a profitable business model since going public in 2021. Privacy concerns related to customers’ genetic information have also emerged, notably spanning from a 2023 data breach — along with questions around what new ownership could mean for users’ data.

Here’s what to know:

23andMe’s bankruptcy follows months of turmoil

23andMe was founded in 2006, with a promise to revolutionize the future of genetics and health care.

The company became known for its saliva-based DNA testing kits — purchased by millions of customers eager to learn more about their ancestry — and later dived further into health research and drug development.

But recent years have been far from smooth sailing for 23andMe. And Sunday’s voluntary bankruptcy filing caps months of turmoil.

Last September, all of its independent directors resigned in a rare move following acquisition negotiations with Wojcicki.

The company then announced in November that it would lay off 40% of its workforce, or more than 200 employees, and discontinue its therapeutics division. And in January, the board’s special committee said it was exploring strategic alternatives, including a possible sale.

Shares of 23andMe Holding Co. have shed nearly all their value since last spring — and plunged even farther after Sunday’s bankruptcy filing, trading at under $1 as of midday Monday.

In recent securities filings, 23andMe continued to warn about its “ability to continue as a going concern” — which is accounting-speak for having the resources needed to operate and stay in business.

Sunday’s Chapter 11 filing from 23andMe reported total debts of more than $214.7 million as of the end of last year. Assets, meanwhile, amounted to over $277.4 million.

What does Chapter 11 mean for the company?

23andMe says that filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection will help facilitate a sale of the company, meaning that it’s seeking new ownership.

In a statement Sunday, Board Chair Mark Jensen said that this court-supervised process was “the best path forward.” He added they also expect it to help 23andMe’s efforts to cut costs as well as resolve legal and leasehold liabilities.

23andMe is looking to pull back from its real estate footprint. Among motions filed on Sunday, the company is seeking court approval to reject lease contracts in San Francisco and Sunnyvale, California, for example, in efforts to help cut down on expenses.

Otherwise, 23andMe says it plans to continue operating. The company says it’s received $35 million in debtor-in-possession financing from JMB Capital Partners to help support its business throughout the bankruptcy process.

I’m a 23andMe customer. Is my genetic data safe?

23andMe says its bankruptcy filing won’t change the way it stores or protects data. Jensen, the board chair, said Sunday that 23andMe is “committed to continuing to safeguard customer data” and that data privacy will be “an important consideration” in any future sale.

John Bringardner of Debtwire notes that any new buyer of 23andMe will have to comply with regulatory approvals that ensure “customer data won’t end up in unscrupulous hands.”

Still, who will end up owning 23andMe down the road is unknown. And experts note that risks remain.

“Personal data collected by 23andme has always been at risk,” Bringardner wrote in emailed commentary on Monday — pointing particularly to a 2023 data breach that compromised ancestral information for nearly 7 million 23andMe customers. He adds that litigation spanning from the aftermath of this breach helped drive up liabilities that eventually contributed to the current bankruptcy filing.

Last year, 23andMe agreed to pay $30 million in cash to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing the company of failing to protect customers whose personal information was exposed in this breach. On Sunday, the company said that it plans to use bankruptcy proceedings to “resolve all outstanding legal liabilities” stemming from the October 2023 incident.

Beyond this data breach, uncertainty about the company’s future overall has also led some to recently urge 23andMe customers to delete their data.

On Friday, days before 23andMe’s bankruptcy filing, California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued an urgent alert reminding 23andMe customers of their legal rights under state law — and called on them to consider deleting and destroying any genetic data held by the company. Bonta’s office pointed to 23andMe’s ongoing financial distress and “trove of sensitive data” the company has amassed.
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AP Health Writer Tom Murphy contributed to this report from Indianapolis.

Stock market today: Wall Street gains ground after shaking off four-week losing streak

Stocks are broadly higher in afternoon trading as navigates through uncertainty amid a . The S&P 500 jumped 1.4% Monday. It is coming off its first winning week after a four-week losing streak. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.1% and the Nasdaq composite rose 1.9%. Wall Street remains focused on how tariffs could eventually impact inflation, consumer spending and economic growth. Stocks have been riding waves of hope and worry as tariffs are announced, then either implemented or pulled. Genetics testing company plunged after it announced over the weekend that it had initiated voluntary proceedings.

Stocks are broadly higher in afternoon trading Monday as Wall Street tries to navigate through the uncertainty of a war.

The S&P 500 jumped 1.4%. The benchmark index is coming off its first winning week after a four-week losing streak.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 442 points, or 1.1%, as of 1:22 p.m. Eastern. The Nasdaq composite surged 1.9%.

Wall Street remains focused on how tariffs could eventually impact inflation, consumer spending and economic growth. Stocks have been riding waves of hope and worry as tariffs are announced, then either implemented or pulled. A new round of tariffs scheduled to be implemented on April 2 could also be softened or postponed rather than take effect.

“The exact breadth and scale of the tariffs remain to be seen, and a cycle of tit-for-tat escalation is also possible in the weeks following the announcement, potentially triggering further bouts of market volatility,” said Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi, chief investment officer of global equities at UBS Global Wealth Management.

Gains on Monday were broad, with more than 80% of stocks within the S&P 500 notching gains. Every sector within the index rose.

Technology stocks helped lead the way. The sector has been the driving force behind much of the broader markets movement, whether up or down. The stocks are among the most valuable on Wall Street and tend to have an outsized impact on the broader market’s direction.

Nvidia rose 3.2% and Apple added 0.5%.

Tesla climbed 9.9% for the biggest gain among S&P 500 stocks. The electric vehicle maker is still down about 30% for the year. It has been struggling on worries that customers are turned off by Elon Musk’s leading efforts to slash spending by the U.S. government.

Genetics testing company 23andme lost more than half its value after it announced over the weekend that it had initiated voluntary bankruptcy proceedings.

AZEK Co. jumped 14.7% after the building materials company announced it was being bought by Australia’s James Hardie Industries in a cash-and-stock deal valued around $8.75 billion.

It’s the second large deal in the sector in less than a week, with QXO Inc. announcing on Thursday that it was buying Beacon Roofing Supply Inc. in a deal worth about $11 billion, including debt.

In the bond market, Treasury yields rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.31% from 4.25% late Friday.
Markets in and were mixed.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang struck a conciliatory tone during a meeting with business leaders and U.S. Senator Steve Daines, a strong supporter of

, who is the first member of Congress to visit Beijing since Trump took office in January.

Wall Street has several economic updates this week. Business group The Conference Board releases its consumer confidence survey for March on Tuesday. Wall Street expects the survey to show a slight dip in consumer confidence.

On Friday, the U.S. government releases the personal consumption expenditures price index for February. It is a measure of inflation closely watched by the Federal Reserve.

Recent economic reports have shown that the underlying remains strong, but that consumers are becoming more worried and cautious. They have also shown that inflation remains stubborn.

Stubborn inflation has prompted more caution from the Fed, which started cutting its benchmark interest rate at the end of 2024. Those cuts came after the central bank raised interest rates in order to cool inflation from a two-decade high.

Several measures of inflation show that interest rates remain just above the Fed’s goal of 2%. The U.S. trade war with its key trading partners has threatened to reignite inflation and the Fed is holding off on further cutting interest rates to see how inflation and the broader economy reacts.
Lower interest rates can ease borrowing costs and help give the economy a boost, but they can also push inflation higher.
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Jiang Junzhe and Matt Ott contributed to this report.

Caught in the middle, this US oddity at the border is grappling with Trump’s trade war with Canada

POINT ROBERTS, Wash. (AP) — In the northwest corner of lies a quirky U.S. exclave so dependent on ‘s goodwill that the strain of ‘s tariff war is inescapable — in the sole grocery store, at any of the three eateries, and for the many residents who never voted for him.

Locals and visitors alike in Point Roberts, Washington, are increasingly worried about how this unusual waterfront border town that has embodied the two countries’ interdependency can survive the hostility brewing on both sides.

“This was really devastating,” said Tamra Hansen, a longtime Point Roberts resident and business owner whose eyes welled with tears as she described her two restaurants on the brink. “If we don’t get the support from the Canadians, this town will die.”

Known as a geographic oddity since the boundary with Canada was drawn in 1846, this detached 5-square-mile community — called an exclave because it’s completely separated from mainland America — is surrounded by water on three sides. Its only land connection is to Canada and it takes one border crossing and about 25 miles north by car to get to downtown Vancouver, B.C.; or two border crossings and about 25 miles through Canada to re-enter the United States along Boundary Bay.

The beaches, marina, golf course and hiking trails have long made Point Roberts a cherished getaway destination, but today locals say business has never been worse. Canadian visitors are staying away and some American residents say they’ve even been harassed over their nationality.

Point Roberts Fire Chief Christopher Carleton said Point Roberts is one the last remaining untouched natural gems of the United States, but the tight-knit community with no stop lights is now under threat by politicians who know nothing about their way of life.

“We need to take care of one another and have grace for one another and not allow people who don’t even know we exist to disrupt the relationships we currently have,” said Carleton, whose firefighters mostly live across the border.

Tensions between the U.S. and Canada have spiked to a level not seen before in modern times thanks to Trump’s on-again, off-again threat over the past two months to place taxes on a long list of goods going across the border. In response, Canada has promised retaliatory .

For a population that has famously prided itself on being nice, polite and loyal allies, Canadians aren’t hiding their disgust for Trump’s polarizing rhetoric, especially taking offense with the U.S. president’s claim that Canada could be the ” 51st state.”

Mark Nykolaichuk said he refuses to go to the mainland U.S. but describes Point Roberts as a unique exception because the border here has never felt like an actual divide for Canadians like him who grew up visiting.

Most of the property owners here are from Canada, and many of the 1,000 year-round residents have dual citizenship. Once a booming fishing town, the leading industry now, according to U.S. Census data, is retail — primarily driven from tourism because of the number of vacation properties. The unincorporated Whatcom County community is now mostly home to retirees, though this year there are seven students — nicknamed “The Borderites” — at the lone public school.

Nykolaichuk, who lives in the Vancouver, B.C. area, said he hopes he can help keep the Point Roberts International Marketplace open by shopping there, given that management reports business is down 20% to 30%. He depends on Point Roberts’ only grocery store to be able to cook at his vacation home because U.S. customs doesn’t permit raw meat to enter its borders, for example, so he must buy it in town.

“Nobody wants to see this place shut down,” Nykolaichuk said. “If this place goes, where are the U.S. citizens going to eat? Where are they going to get their food from?”

Many in Point Roberts don’t blame the Canadians for their disdain over Trump’s perceived sovereignty threat. Instead, there’s a deep sadness for both sides.

“We’ve always gotten along and it’s just nonsensical because now the U.S. is going to suffer too,” said Hansen, who is a dual citizen. “I definitely feel for the Canadian people at this time because they’ve got their backs against the wall, really, and they have to retaliate.”

Like many locals, Larry Musselwhite, owner of Larry’s Liquor Locker, is angry at Trump and blames the president for Point Roberts’ economic problems. The 75-year-old said he can’t even think about retiring right now because of the . His liquor store was down 40% in sales last month.

“This is because of our elected president, who really doesn’t care about the common man and the struggles that we have to go through,” Musselwhite said. “It greatly affects how I live my life.”

About 75% of the Point Roberts precinct voted for a presidential candidate other than Trump, which is a higher percentage than across Whatcom County as well as the statewide turnout, according to the 2024 election results.

Locals say one of the most frustrating things about the tit-for-tat is the way that the tariffs have abruptly started and stopped, creating an unsteady flow of changes to customs. The whiplash for residents who often cross the border multiple times a day leaves them unsure whether or when they’ll be surprised with a new penalty.

This fear over unexpected tariff fees has made people cautious about buying things in Point Roberts — if they’re coming into town at all.

Hugh Wilson, a real estate agent who also manages several local Airbnb listings, said properties have seen more cancellations than bookings lately.

“Nobody is sure of the rules at any one day here,” Wilson said. “The border agents do the best they can to stay up to date and they relay that to us as normal people crossing the border.”

With no end in sight, there’s also a high-stakes fear that the dispute could escalate with Canada possibly imposing tariffs on the water and electricity that it supplies to Point Roberts, or even turning off the utilities altogether.

“If it gets more brutal, they can cut off the water just like that, or the power,” said Brian Calder, a fourth-generation resident who was previously the president of the Point Roberts Chamber of Commerce. “And it just depends how much more confrontation is fomented by Trump’s office.”

Calder said he and other town leaders are trying to plead for help with the British Columbia premier and the governor of Washington state. He said the local Whatcom County leadership has all but abandoned this far-away community in a time of crisis.

Jed Holmes, a spokesman for the county, said they are communicating with Washington state’s congressional delegation in D.C. to address the rapid deterioration in U.S.-Canada relations that has especially affected Point Roberts.

“I understand that folks want us to do more, but it’s really challenging to identify what meaningful things a county government can do to change this dynamic at the international level,” Holmes said in an email.

For Hansen, she’s asking herself how much more can she afford to lose personally while running the Saltwater Cafe breakfast spot and a restaurant called The Pier. She has 15 employees to pay but business was down 55% in February compared with last year. There have been times when her pub doesn’t even net $100 a day.

“There are some businesses that are going out of business right now as we speak,” Hansen said. “It’s very emotional for me because I care about everybody that lives here.”