Sorry, America, Canadians just aren’t that into you anymore

"It's you, not us"

According to newly released data from Statistics Canada for May 2025, a substantial portion of Canadians are still choosing to avoid travel to the United States, signaling a continued shift in cross-border travel trends.

Air and vehicle travel is down again

On June 10th, Statistics Canada announced that May was the fifth consecutive month return trips from the United States have dropped based on vehicle and air travel returns, The Canadian Press reported. 

Air travel sunk by 24.4% from last year

Air travel return trips from the United States by Canadian residents dropped by 24.4% to 488,800 in May compared to the previous year despite the fact overall air returns rose. 

Returns via air travel went up overall

Statistics Canada found that Canadian air returns from other overseas countries jumped by 9.8% in May 2025 compared to the previous year, reaching 1.1 million air returns. 

Over one million fewer vehicle returns

Canada also experienced a similar decline in automobile returns, which fell by 38.1% to 1.3 million in May 2025 compared to the previous year. The reasons for such large declines are varied but also obvious. 

An explanation for the situation?

One reason that could explain why Canadians are traveling less to the United States might be their growing sour views of the country. Polling in mid-February found a majority of Canadians no longer viewed the US as an ally or a friendly country. 

When your neighbour becomes your enemy

Conducted by Leger, a Canadian analytics company, the polling found that Canadians saw their relationship with the United States as being nearly as tense as their relations with Russia.

The latest data was shocking

Only 16% of Canadians believed Canada had a good relationship with the United States compared to 15% who said the same about Russia, a clear adversarial rival nation. 

Trump unified Canadian leaders

“Donald Trump has done more to unify Canadians than any leader since the post-Confederation period,” Jack Jedwab, president and CEO of the Association for Canadian Studies explained according to Global News. Trump may have unified Canadians in their desire to steer clear of travel to the United States as well.  

Canadians don't think the US is safe or welcoming

Other interesting polling published May 6th by the Association for Canadian Studies and conducted by Leger found that a significant number of Canadians no longer believed that the United States was a safe or welcoming place. 

“No longer safe for all Canadians"

The data revealed that 52% of the 1,626 Canadians surveyed agreed with the statement that it was “no longer safe for all Canadians traveling to the United States.” Another 54% also noted that they no longer felt the US was a welcoming country. 

Another worrying problem revealed by polling

According to polling conducted between March 27th to April 2nd by British international internet-based research and analytics firm YouGov, 61% of Canadians stated that they considered the United States to be unfriendly or an enemy. 

America is seen as an unfriendly country

YouGov noted that only 25% of the 993 Canadian adults surveyed still thought of the US as an ally or friendly nation, which was down 8 points from polling in February 2025. Additionally, a near majority of Canadians (44%) were more likely to see the US as unfriendly. 

The United States is now an enemy

Another 20% of Canadians thought the United States was an enemy, a finding up from 14% in February. Interestingly, YouGov found that 61% of respondents said they were boycotting American companies, which was up 8 points from February. 

A response to Trump’s madness?

YouGov’s findings were interesting because they revealed the growing outrage among Canadians with their southern neighbors in the wake of Trump’s trade war with Canada, and his comments questioning Canadian sovereignty. However, whether or not this has factored into Canadians avoiding travel to the United States is still unclear.