Canada saw a seventh straight month of declines in travel by residents to the U.S. in July, according to preliminary data released Monday.
Statistics Canada released a report showing the number of Canadians who made a return trip from the U.S. by car dropped 36.9 per cent in July compared to the same month in 2024.
But it wasn’t just travel by land that dropped. Data shows Canadians returning from the U.S. by air decreased by 25.8 per cent compared to a year ago.
In total, the data showed nearly 1.7 million Canadians made a return trip by car compared to 2.6 million a year prior, with 383,700 returns by air.
The drop in both methods of travel has been consistent since the beginning of 2025, coinciding with U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration and his ongoing threats of tariffs and annexing Canada.
Trump’s trade war, which saw 35 per cent tariffs levied recently on goods not covered by the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), has prompted many Canadians to avoid travelling south.
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Latest polling by the Pew Research Center suggests that while 55 per cent of Canadians still feel the U.S. is Canada’s most important ally, 59 per cent now see it as a threat.
While July saw another decline in Canadians returning from the U.S. by air, the same could not be said for those coming home from countries overseas.
According to the data, return trips from overseas countries increased by 5.9 per cent to one million compared to the year prior.
Meanwhile, people from outside Canada are also making more trips to the Great White North, with data showing non-resident arrivals by air rose 3.1 per cent to 1.4 million compared to July 2024.
This was comprised of 714,700 U.S. residents and 729,800 by those overseas.
However, while arrivals by air rose, Americans coming to Canada by vehicle dropped 7.4 per cent compared to a year ago — the sixth consecutive month of year-over-year declines.
A total of nearly 1.8 million Americans travelled north of the border, compared to 1.9 million a year ago.
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