Travel over the Canada-U.S. border keeps plummeting

The travel slump between Canada and the U.S. continues amid the trade war.

New data from Statistics Canada found a decline in travel between the countries, both by land and air.

In April, 820,700 U.S. residents took road trips to Canada, a 10.7 per cent drop from the same month in 2024.

Canadian residents returning from the U.S by land totalled 1.2 million in April (plummeting 35.2 per cent), which StatCan says is a "steep decline" compared to the same time last year.

"April 2025 marked the fourth consecutive month of year-over-year declines," reads the report.

The decrease in travel between the neighbouring countries was also seen in flights.

U.S.-resident trips to Canada by car, April 2019 to 2025. Graph courtesy of Statistics Canada.

In April, the number of U.S. residents visiting Canada by air dropped by 5.5 per cent from the same time last year. Meanwhile, Canadian return trips from the U.S. by air fell 19.9 per cent in April compared to the same month in 2024.

Canadian airlines are feeling this slump too, with some continuing to suspend more flights between the countries due to a lack of demand.

The downward trend continues from February, when StatCan noted the first year-over-year decrease in American arrivals to Canada since March 2021.

Canadian-resident return trips from the United States by car, April 2019 to 2025. (Statistics Canada)

In March, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) found that Canadians visiting the south plummeted by nearly 900,000.

The report does not provide a reason for this decline, but it could be tied to the ongoing trade tensions between Canada and the U.S.

Many Canadians have chosen to boycott American-made products and cancel travel plans to the U.S. in protest of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Since the trade war escalated in February, the U.S. has implemented new entry and exit requirements for Canadians visiting for longer than a month, which may also be deterring travel.