Corporate behemoths Wal-Mart Canada and Visa have declared a truce in their dispute over merchant fees, allowing Walmart customers in Manitoba and Thunder Bay, Ont., to resume using the credit card beginning Friday.

“Visa cardholders can once again use their Visa credit cards as a form of payment in all Wal-Mart stores across Canada,” Visa said in a statement provided to CTV News. “We have come to an agreement with Walmart through which Visa credit cards will be accepted at all Canadian Walmart stores, including in Manitoba and Thunder Bay, Ontario, starting on Friday, January 6.”

"We have come to an agreement with Visa which allows us to continue offering Visa as a form of payment in our (Canadian) stores. Customers in Manitoba and Thunder Bay, Ontario, will be able to use their Visa credit card starting January 6, 2017," Wal-Mart echoed in a statement on their website.

That set off a widely watched battle within the retail sector that intensified in October, when Wal-Mart expanded its policy of rejecting Visas to its 16 stores in Manitoba. The retail giant had said it was planning to expand its phase-out of Visa to all of its 400 stores in Canada.

The months-long dispute became so heated that at one point Visa offered its cardholders in Manitoba a reward for buying their groceries somewhere other than Wal-Mart. It launched an advertising campaign in November offering Manitoba Visa cardholders a $10 credit if they spent $50 or more at grocery stores.

The campaign didn't explicitly mention Wal-Mart or the fee dispute, but a Visa spokeswoman said at the time that the company was hoping to ease any inconvenience for Visa cardholders who can't use their cards everywhere that they want to.

Visa ran a similar ad in Thunder Bay, promising cardholders there with a $25 credit for every grocery purchase of $75 or more.

Visa previously said it had offered Wal-Mart one of the lowest rates for any merchant in the country, and that if it gave in to the retailer's demands then other merchants would want a reduction in their fees, as well.

With files from BNN