VANCOUVER, British Columbia \u2014 Diana and Rick Bellamy initially planned to take a Caribbean cruise out of Houston before heading to Laurel, Mississippi, to visit the home of one of their favorite HGTV shows, \u201cHome Town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Calgary couple scrapped those plans and vacationed last month along Mexico\u2019s Pacific coast instead, put off by U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s trade war with Canada, the insults he\u2019s hurled at their homeland, and stories about American border agents searching people\u2019s phones and detaining foreigners for minor reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She found it ironic that she felt more comfortable traveling to Mexico than the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI never thought I would hear myself say that,\u201d Diane Bellamy said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump\u2019s attacks on Canada\u2019s economy and threats to make it the 51st state have infuriated Canadians, who are canceling trips to the U.S. in big numbers. They also seem to have also flipped the narrative heading into Canada\u2019s parliamentary elections on Monday, with Prime Minister Mark Carney\u2019s Liberal Party surging after trailing far behind in the polls just a few months ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A steep decline<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.S. gets more visitors from Canada each year than from any other country, according to the U.S. Travel Association, an industry trade group, which said the 20.4 million visits from Canada last year generated $20.5 billion in spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But there has been a big drop in foreigners traveling to the U.S. since Trump took office, and Canadians are no exception. There were more than 910,000 fewer land border crossings from Canada into the U.S. last month than in March of 2024 \u2014 a more than 22% drop \u2014 according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data. An Air Canada spokesman, meanwhile, said Canada-U.S. flight bookings for April through September are down about 10%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trump brushed aside the decline in tourism to the United States on Wednesday, saying, \u201cThere\u2019s a little nationalism there I guess, perhaps. It\u2019s not a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Traveler worries<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Since Trump started his second term, there have been well-publicized reports of tourists being stopped at U.S. border crossings and held for weeks at immigration detention facilities before being allowed to fly home at their own expense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On March 3, Canadian Jasmine Mooney, an actor and entrepreneur on a U.S. work visa, was detained by U.S. border agents in San Diego. She was released after 12 days detention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before Mooney\u2019s release, British Columbia Premier David Eby expressed concern, saying: \u201cIt certainly reinforces anxiety that … many Canadians have about our relationship with the U.S. right now, and the unpredictability of this administration and its actions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Canadian Association of University Teachers, which represents faculty and staff at Canadian universities, warned its members against nonessential travel to the U.S. due to the \u201cpolitical landscape\u201d under Trump and reports of Canadians encountering difficulties crossing the border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Academics who have expressed negative views about the Trump administration should be particularly cautious about traveling to the U.S., said the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPeople are scared to cross the border. I don\u2019t know what Americans are thinking, quite frankly. Are they that oblivious?\u201d said former Quebec Premier Jean Charest, who has family in Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mike Sauer, who runs a community policing center in Vancouver, said he and his partner have no interest in traveling to the U.S. now because of Trump\u2019s politics and border fears. One of Sauer\u2019s concerns is that if a border guard were to check his cellphone, the guard might see his past purchases of marijuana, which is legal to buy in Canada and about half the 50 states but is still illegal under U.S. federal law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe States have a different view on drugs. They could certainly look at my phone and see I\u2019m 420-friendly,\u201d he said, meaning he\u2019s marijuana-friendly. \u201cI think it kind of depends on which border guard would have a problem with that and which ones wouldn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dietra Wilson, 32, said when she was younger, she often visited Detroit, which is just across the border from Windsor, Ontario, where she and her husband, Ben, own a secondhand shop. She hasn\u2019t visited much in recent years, though, and she said she\u2019s heard of people\u2019s worries about crossing the border since Trump moved back into the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt\u2019s worrisome,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ben Wilson, 37, also has qualms about trying to cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhy would I want to?\u201d he said. \u201cRegardless of the tariffs, if I\u2019m going to be stopped at the border for my phone or something somebody texted me, why go?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Industry worries<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The drop in Canadian tourism to the U.S. led California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a frequent target of Trump, to announce an ad campaign this month meant to lure Canadians back to his state, citing a 12% year-on-year drop in February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n McKenzie McMillan, a consultant with a Vancouver-based travel agency, The Travel Group, said the company\u2019s bookings to the U.S. have dried up. \u201cWe have seen a near-total collapse of U.S. business,\u201d he said. \u201cProbably about a 90% drop since February.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lesley Keyter, the CEO and founder of the Travel Lady agency in Calgary, said she\u2019s seen people actually forfeit money to cancel their U.S. trips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEven if they\u2019re going on a Caribbean cruise, they don\u2019t want to go down to Fort Lauderdale to get on the cruise ship,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n