The Daily Populous Tuesday December 2nd, 2025 morning edition
Authored by globalnews.ca and submitted by Immediate-Link490

Send this page to someone via email

For the ninth consecutive month, fewer passengers at Canadian airports are heading to the United States amid the trade war.

New data from Statistics Canada shows total Canadian air passenger traffic in October was up by 4.5 per cent to five million travellers from the same time last year, but the number of people on U.S.-bound trips is down 8.9 per cent to 1.2 million travellers.

The drop comes almost a year after U.S. President Donald Trump first started musing about making Canada the 51st state, a threat he has repeated throughout the trade war.

When asked if he was considering using military force to take over Canada in January, Trump did not rule out a plan for annexation.

“No, economic force,” he said. “Because Canada and the United States would really be something. You get rid of that artificially drawn line and you take a look at what that looks like, and it would also be much better financial security.”

1:53 New StatsCan data shows just how much U.S. border travel has dropped

Trump began the trade war with Canada in February by slapping 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian products except energy, critical minerals and potash, which were hit with a rate of 10 per cent.

Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy

Since then, Trump has carved out an exemption for free trade-compliant goods but is still hammering Canadian steel, copper and aluminum with a 50 per cent duty, lumber at 45 per cent, and non-free trade compliant goods at 25 per cent.

When Carney visited the Oval Office in October, Trump was asked about Canadian tourism dropping due to his 51st state comments.

“It’s something that will get worked out. There’s still great love between the two countries,” Trump said.

“We want Canada to do great, but there’s a point at which we also want the same business, we’re competing for the same business. That’s the problem. That’s why I keep mentioning one way to solve that problem. There’s a very easy way.”

1:46 More Canadians avoiding U.S. travel amid trade war: StatCan

The U.S. Travel Association estimates international tourism spending in the U.S. will fall by 3.2 per cent this year and attributes Canadians boycotting the U.S. as the “primary driver” for the $5.7-billion US loss.

Meanwhile, travel within Canada is up. October saw an 8.5 per cent boost in domestic air traffic compared to the same time last year, up to 2.4 million passengers.

Canada had a record-breaking summer for tourism, generating nearly $60 billion in revenue, according to Destination Canada. The six per cent year-over-year increase was “driven by a strong base of Canadian travellers who chose to explore our country like never before.”

The domestic travel boom is consistent with recent Ipsos polling, which found 72 per cent of Canadians believe Trump’s comments about becoming the 51st state have only strengthened Canadian pride.

Winter_Finding7022 on December 1st, 2025 at 20:58 UTC »

Florida here, I am seeing no Quebec or Ontario plates and usually at this time of year that's like 20 percent of the plates I see in my beach town.

macross1984 on December 1st, 2025 at 20:43 UTC »

Canadian mindset has changed. Even with Trump gone down the road, it may never recover to its former level.

supercyberlurker on December 1st, 2025 at 20:27 UTC »

In abuse situations, this is known as the victim going low or no contact.