A beloved library that united the US and Canada faces new border restrictions

DERBY, Vt. (AP) — For Allyson Howell, her hometown library is more than just a place to borrow a book; it's also a unique space where different cultures from the U.S. and Canada have mingled and developed ties for more than a century.

Howell and others fear that could change under a new regulation implemented by President Donald Trump's administration as tensions continue to rise between the two countries.

The Haskell Free Library and Opera House straddles the line between Howell's village of Derby Line, Vermont, and the town of Stanstead, Quebec. The entrance to the imposing Victorian-style brick and stone building is on the U.S. side, but an informal agreement between the two countries has always allowed Canadians to enter without a passport.

Canadians cross the border on a sidewalk leading directly to the library that is monitored by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The nearest border checkpoint is not within eyesight of the building.

Inside the library, there is a line on the floor marking the international border, though residents of both countries have been able to move freely among the stacks.

But since Tuesday, the only Canadian visitors able to enter on the U.S. side have been cardholders and library workers. All others have had to use an emergency exit on the Canadian side. Starting Oct. 1, all Canadians will have to enter from their side of the border or pass through a security checkpoint on the U.S. side. It’s a big change from the honor system arrangement the two countries have always used, users of the library said.

“This feels like this one more step of building this chasm between these two nations that is really devoid of curiosity and understanding," said Howell, who described the library as “really special” and a “real symbol” of international cooperation between two long-standing allies.

Derby Line is a village of about 700 people within the town of Derby, located in the rural Northeast Kingdom section of Vermont. Stanstead is a town of about 3,000 residents.

Like many rural border communities in the U.S. and Canada, their economies and cultures are linked. But the ties have become strained under Trump, who has advanced tariffs and tightened border protections in some communities that are especially reliant on each other.

“In many ways it’s a powerful symbol for all of us who live in this border region,” Rick Ufford-Chase, mayor of nearby Newport, Vermont, said of the library. “The border may exist in some kind of theoretical way, it’s a political reality, but it hasn’t been a reality for families who have been moving back and forth across this border for decades.”

The new U.S. regulation strikes at the heart of what the library stands for, according to members of communities on both sides of the border. It was built in the early 1900s with a goal of uniting those communities with literacy, art and culture, said Sylvie Boudreau, president of the library’s board of trustees.

“It’s a place to reunite the two countries, two communities,” said Boudreau, who lives on the Quebec side of the border. “We’re all friends, we’re all family. We stick together.”

Because of the regulation, the library will need to build a new entrance on the Canadian side, a renovation that will cost at least $100,000, Boudreau said.

“For me it's not necessary, because there's always been a good relation with both authorities, either American or Canadian,” Boudreau said. “It would have been great if we could have kept this (U.S.) entrance open."

Whittle reported from Portland, Maine.

A young girl walks over the Canada-USA international border line into Canada from inside the Haskell Free Library and Opera House in Derby Line, Vermont on Friday, March 21, 2025. (Christinne Muschi /The Canadian Press via AP)

Pauline Lussier, left from Stanstead, Quebec and Chris Blais from Derby Line, Vermont, hold each other's flags as they straddle the international border line inside the Haskell Free Library and Opera House in Derby Line on Friday, March 21, 2025. (Christinne Muschi /The Canadian Press via AP)

Americans offer silent support as they stand on their side of the border to watch a press conference about the Haskell Free Library and Opera House in Stanstead, Que., on Friday, March 21, 2025. (Christinne Muschi /The Canadian Press via AP)

A young girl reads straddling the Canada-USA international border line inside the Haskell Free Library and Opera House in Derby Line, Vt., on Friday, March 21, 2025. (Christinne Muschi /The Canadian Press via AP)

A person walks over the international border into Canada in front of the Haskell Free Library and Opera House in Derby Line, Vt., on Friday, March 21, 2025. (Christinne Muschi /The Canadian Press via AP)

A family from the United States enters the Haskell Free Library and Opera House in Derby Line, Vt., on Friday, March 21, 2025. (Christinne Muschi /The Canadian Press via AP)

A couple from Canada pass the international border line into Canada inside the Haskell Free Library and Opera House from Derby Line, Vt., on Friday, March 21, 2025. (Christinne Muschi /The Canadian Press via AP)

An American man crosses into Canada to attend a press conference about the Haskell Free Library and Opera House in Stanstead, Que., on Friday, March 21, 2025. (Christinne Muschi /The Canadian Press via AP)

People walk past the Haskell Free Library and Opera House in Derby Line, Vt., on Friday, March 21, 2025. (Christinne Muschi /The Canadian Press via AP)

Penny Thomas who drove from Newport, Vt., has a tear roll down her cheek as she holds a sign on the standing in Derby, Vt., outside the Haskell Free Library and Opera House in Stanstead, Que., on Friday, March 21, 2025. (Christinne Muschi /The Canadian Press via AP)

NEW YORK (AP) — Reviving a campaign pledge, President Donald Trump wants a one-year, 10% cap on credit card interest rates, a move that could save Americans tens of billions of dollars but drew immediate opposition from an industry that has been in his corner.

Trump was not clear in his social media post Friday night whether a cap might take effect through executive action or legislation, though one Republican senator said he had spoken with the president and would work on a bill with his “full support.” Trump said he hoped it would be in place Jan. 20, one year after he took office.

Strong opposition is certain from Wall Street in addition to the credit card companies, which donated heavily to his 2024 campaign and have supported Trump's second-term agenda. Banks are making the argument that such a plan would most hurt poor people, at a time of economic concern, by curtailing or eliminating credit lines, driving them to high-cost alternatives like payday loans or pawnshops.

“We will no longer let the American Public be ripped off by Credit Card Companies that are charging Interest Rates of 20 to 30%,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Researchers who studied Trump’s campaign pledge after it was first announced found that Americans would save roughly $100 billion in interest a year if credit card rates were capped at 10%. The same researchers found that while the credit card industry would take a major hit, it would still be profitable, although credit card rewards and other perks might be scaled back.

About 195 million people in the United States had credit cards in 2024 and were assessed $160 billion in interest charges, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says. Americans are now carrying more credit card debt than ever, to the tune of about $1.23 trillion, according to figures from the New York Federal Reserve for the third quarter last year.

Further, Americans are paying, on average, between 19.65% and 21.5% in interest on credit cards according to the Federal Reserve and other industry tracking sources. That has come down in the past year as the central bank lowered benchmark rates, but is near the highs since federal regulators started tracking credit card rates in the mid-1990s. That’s significantly higher than a decade ago, when the average credit card interest rate was roughly 12%.

The Republican administration has proved particularly friendly until now to the credit card industry.

Capital One got little resistance from the White House when it finalized its purchase and merger with Discover Financial in early 2025, a deal that created the nation’s largest credit card company. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is largely tasked with going after credit card companies for alleged wrongdoing, has been largely nonfunctional since Trump took office.

In a joint statement, the banking industry was opposed to Trump's proposal.

“If enacted, this cap would only drive consumers toward less regulated, more costly alternatives," the American Bankers Association and allied groups said.

Bank lobbyists have long argued that lowering interest rates on their credit card products would require the banks to lend less to high-risk borrowers. When Congress enacted a cap on the fee that stores pay large banks when customers use a debit card, banks responded by removing all rewards and perks from those cards. Debit card rewards only recently have trickled back into consumers' hands. For example, United Airlines now has a debit card that gives miles with purchases.

The U.S. already places interest rate caps on some financial products and for some demographics. The Military Lending Act makes it illegal to charge active-duty service members more than 36% for any financial product. The national regulator for credit unions has capped interest rates on credit union credit cards at 18%.

Credit card companies earn three streams of revenue from their products: fees charged to merchants, fees charged to customers and the interest charged on balances. The argument from some researchers and left-leaning policymakers is that the banks earn enough revenue from merchants to keep them profitable if interest rates were capped.

"A 10% credit card interest cap would save Americans $100 billion a year without causing massive account closures, as banks claim. That’s because the few large banks that dominate the credit card market are making absolutely massive profits on customers at all income levels," said Brian Shearer, director of competition and regulatory policy at the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator, who wrote the research on the industry's impact of Trump's proposal last year.

There are some historic examples that interest rate caps do cut off the less creditworthy to financial products because banks are not able to price risk correctly. Arkansas has a strictly enforced interest rate cap of 17% and evidence points to the poor and less creditworthy being cut out of consumer credit markets in the state. Shearer's research showed that an interest rate cap of 10% would likely result in banks lending less to those with credit scores below 600.

The White House did not respond to questions about how the president seeks to cap the rate or whether he has spoken with credit card companies about the idea.

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., who said he talked with Trump on Friday night, said the effort is meant to “lower costs for American families and to reign in greedy credit card companies who have been ripping off hardworking Americans for too long."

Legislation in both the House and the Senate would do what Trump is seeking.

Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., released a plan in February that would immediately cap interest rates at 10% for five years, hoping to use Trump’s campaign promise to build momentum for their measure.

Hours before Trump's post, Sanders said that the president, rather than working to cap interest rates, had taken steps to deregulate big banks that allowed them to charge much higher credit card fees.

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., have proposed similar legislation. Ocasio-Cortez is a frequent political target of Trump, while Luna is a close ally of the president.

Seung Min Kim reported from West Palm Beach, Fla.

President Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, Jan. 9, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

FILE - Visa and Mastercard credit cards are shown in Buffalo Grove, Ill., Feb. 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)