500,000 fewer people drove to U.S. in February than in January

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The number of travellers driving from Canada to the United States has decreased by nearly 500,000 since last month, amid heightened tensions between the two countries.

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The data is one of the first pieces of concrete evidence indicating that fewer Canadians are travelling to the United States.

The numbers have been on the decline since December, around the same time that President Donald Trump’s rhetoric about Canada ramped up. He made comments about Canada becoming the 51st state and implemented tariffs on Canadian goods, triggering a trade war.

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More recently, a U.S. travel policy announced in late February said it would require Canadians and other foreign nationals to register in order to stay in the country for more than 30 days. (Canadians are exempt from having to be fingerprinted). This policy specifically affects travellers who cross the border by land, as they are not automatically given a form that qualifies them to enter the country without registering. The new policy goes into effect on April 11.

Decrease in passenger vehicles

In February, roughly 2.2 million people in passenger vehicles entered one of the states that border Canada, according to data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That’s 500,000 fewer than the previous month of January, at about 2.7 million. The numbers have been on a downward trend since December, when approximately 3.5 million people drove to Maine, Vermont, New York, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington or Alaska from Canada.

Decrease in pedestrian crossings 

The data from the American federal agency included information about pedestrians crossing into the United States from Canada. That number was also on the decline starting in December, with around 165,000 pedestrians crossing the border into one of the states that neighbour Canada. The number of pedestrian travellers went down to roughly 107,000 in January and decreased even more to approximately 99,200 in February.

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Decrease in air travel

Compared to last month, travellers who entered the United States by plane also decreased from 2.1 million in January to 1.7 million. Although the data does not specify where the travellers are coming from, the decrease in Canadian travellers flying to the U.S. is a trend that travel group Flight Centre noticed in recent months.

In February, head of communications for Flight Centre Travel Group Amra Durakovic said that the company continued to “observe a softening in cross-border travel bookings among Canadians, a pattern affecting both leisure and corporate segments of our business.”

The shift “reflects contributing factors such as a weak Canadian dollar and uncertainties stemming from the U.S. administration’s tariff announcements, prompting more cautious travel behaviour,” said Durakovic in an emailed statement to the National Post.

Decrease in truck drivers

Meanwhile, the number of truck drivers crossing from Canada into the United States has declined since January. There were around 513,000 truckers who travelled to the U.S. in the first month of 2025, compared to roughly 473,000 last month. This could be due to the ongoing trade war between the two countries.

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The data provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection is reflected in information recently released by Statistics Canada.

“In February, the number of Canadian-resident return trips by automobile from the U.S. totalled 1.2 million,” it said in a news release about international arrivals to Canada on March 10. That was “a steep decline,” down 23 per cent from the same month in 2024.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection said its data is extracted from its live systems and data sources. “Statistical information is subject to change due to corrections, system changes, changes in data definition, additional information, or data pending final review. Final statistics are available at the conclusion of each fiscal year,” it said.

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