Canadians Slashed U.S. Travel by a Quarter in 2025 — and $3 Billion Didn't Come Back

The US and Canada flags flutter next to the Blue Water Bridge border crossing in Point Edward, Ontario, on October 24, 2025. US President Donald Trump said October 23, 2025 he was ending trade talks with Canada over an anti-tariff advertising campaign, a sudden about-face soon after a cordial White House meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney. On his Truth Social network, Trump vented fury at what he called a "fake" ad that he said misquoted former president Ronald Reagan discussing tariff policy. (Credit: Photo by GEOFF ROBINS/AFP via Getty Images)

A Pullback Unlike Anything Since 9/11

Canadian border crossings into the United States dropped from 39 million in 2024 to 29.1 million in 2025, a 25.4% collapse that Statistics Canada calls the deepest sustained decline in its border-crossing records outside the COVID-19 shutdown, dating back to when digital tracking began in 1972. The only comparable single moment came in September 2001, in the weeks after the September 11 attacks. The slide worsened through the first half of the year, hit its low point in July at nearly a third below the prior year, then leveled off around a quarter down for the remainder of 2025. Early 2026 numbers, per CBS News, suggest the pullback has settled in rather than reversed.