Trump’s Tariffs Cause Decline in Canadian Tourism and Commerce, Hurting WA Businesses

Today, the Joint Economic Committee Democrats released a new report showing how declining Canadian tourism is harming American businesses in Washington. The decline in tourism comes as President Trump has proposed annexing Canada, imposed several rounds of tariffs on Canadian goods paid for by Americans, and repeatedly broken off trade talks. The report combines new data on tourism declines with new testimonials from businesses in Washington.

"Washington's economy is particularly vulnerable to Trump's trade war. 4-in-10 of our jobs are tied to trade, and our supply chains are deeply linked with Canada," said DelBene. "This economic uncertainty, along with demeaning comments made about one of our closest trading partners, has led to a drastic reduction in the number of Canadian tourists visiting Washington, and businesses across our state are feeling the downturn."

From January to October 2025, the report found that the number of passenger vehicles crossing the Washington-Canada border declined by more than 24 percent compared to the same period in 2024. Washingtonian businesses are also reporting fewer tourists, more hotel vacancies, and lower sales.

"Since March of this year, we have not only seen Canadian traffic drop drastically, but we have also seen a drop in our number of attendees at our festival this year in late September," said Kevin Coleman, Executive Director of SeaFeast in Bellingham. "We knew that after March, we could not rely on our Canadian business because of fear at the border and lack of understanding of what is happening with tariffs and Canada drawing a strong line of promoting Canada first."

"I didn't want to just suddenly close on our customers without giving them a heads-up … We are really reliant on the Canadian traffic to come down here," said Sasha Lysikov, owner of Minted Method in Bellingham.

Read the full report here.