Far fewer British Columbians are visiting Washington these days.
Data from the BC Ministry of Transportation and Washington State Department of Transportation showed that around half as many people headed south by car in March 2025 compared to the same month last year.
There are four land crossings along the British Columbia-Washington border, Peace Arch/Douglas, Pacific Highway, Lynden/Aldergrove, and Sumas/Abbotsford. In March 2024, a total of 216,000 vehicles with British Columbia license plates were recorded crossing southbound.
Between March 1 and 31, 2025, however, around 121,000 such trips were logged, a decrease of nearly 50%.
The decline began in February, which saw a nearly 25% year over year reduction in southbound traffic across the aforementioned crossings. That coincided with President Donald Trump's first tariff declaration and then-prime minister Justin Trudeau's ensuing plea to Canadians to shop and travel locally in response.
Since Trump first got serious about implementing tariffs on Canada in January, British Columbia Premier David Eby has also urged the people of his province to avoid visiting the United States unless absolutely necessary.
"I really do think for Canadians right now," Eby said in January, "when you're planning your March break vacations, when you're planning your summer vacations, if the tariff threat is realized — the deliberate economic attack on families in our province, in our country by the president of the United States — then we should really be thinking carefully about spending our money in that country."
The premier followed his own advice, cancelling a planned trip to Disneyland with his family.
Similar trends have been reported across Canada, and not just when it comes to road trips. A report from OAG Aviation Worldwide found that bookings made in March for travel to the United States in April fell over 75% compared to the same time period last year.