Canadians making fewer road trips to the U.S. as trade war escalates

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Canadians making fewer road trips to the U.S.

Tariffs' effect on cross-border travel

As the trade war between Canada and the United States continues, fewer Canadians appear to be taking trips south of the border, specifically by car.

According to Statistics Canada, there was a 23 per cent drop year-over-year in the number of Canadians crossing back into Canada from the U.S. in February. In raw numbers, 1,164,526 Canadian residents drove back to the country last month, compared to 1,513,156 Canadian residents in February 2024.

“No, I’m not surprised at all.” said Perth, Ont. resident Judy Shea, who used to visit the United States at least once a year with her husband.

“We would go down there to Florida. We’d go down to North Carolina, South Carolina,” she said.

But times have changed and travelling south is no longer being considered.

“It’s so different down there now.”

Corey Fram, the director of tourism with the 1000 Islands International Tourism Council, says the Thousand Islands Bridge border crossing between Lansdowne, Ont. and Alexandria Bay, N.Y. was quiet in the first half of the month.

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“We can see that passenger traffic is down about 12 per cent,” he tells CTV News Ottawa.

One Thousand Islands Tourism markets destinations on both sides of the border, which Fram explains has been a challenge lately.

“Typically, we put American attractions next to Canadian attractions when we’re planning an itinerary for somebody to come into town,” he says.

“That message isn’t very well received right now. What we’re finding out is that a lot of our folks on the Canadian side are just not interested in that American-side product.”