Canadians cut US travel by a quarter last year, per Statistics Canada.
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Canadians won't stop giving US trips the cold shoulder.According to Statistics Canada's National Travel Survey released Tuesday, Canadian residents took 5.5 million trips that included a visit to the US in the first three months of 2026, down 10.6% from the same period last year.The figures extend a sharp pullback that began last year. A Statistics Canada report released last month said that the number of Canadian residents returning home from trips to the US fell 25.4% in 2025 compared with 2024.It was the deepest and most sustained non-pandemic decline on record: 11 straight months of year-over-year falls. Border crossings in early 2026 remained around late-2025 levels, which Statistics Canada said pointed to a "persistent shift" away from the US.The pullback began after President Donald Trump imposed broad tariffs on Canada and Mexico in early 2025, prompting calls for Canadians to boycott US goods and vacations.Now, the trade dispute has flared up again. US-Canada trade talks broke down last week, and fresh 50% US tariffs on roughly $20 billion of Canadian imports took effect on Saturday.Canada has said it will retaliate dollar for dollar from September 8, and on Tuesday announced a series of targeted tariffs on 700 US products, from steel and aluminum to all types of fresh and frozen fish. That retaliation came in response to Trump's announcement on Monday that tariffs on Canadian cars, trucks, auto parts, and steel would rise to 50% from January 1, 2027.Rachel J.C. Fu, chair and professor in the University of Florida's Department of Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management and director of its Eric Friedheim Tourism Institute, said the renewed tensions could make a rapid recovery less likely.
