Americans line up to shake the hands of their Canadian neighbors on the U.S.-Canada border at the International Peace Garden on Aug. 9, 2025. (Photo by Mary Steurer/North Dakota Monitor)
By: Mary Steurer
BISMARCK, N.D (North Dakota Monitor) – Border crossings for personal vehicles into North Dakota from Canada were down about 30% for the first half of this year compared to 2024 — a trend that could stem from the U.S. executive branch’s policy and rhetoric.
The North Dakota Department of Commerce estimates that Canadian visitors spent roughly $14.4 million less in the first six months of 2025 than they did over the same time period last year. The department monitors border crossing numbers from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
“We are obviously watching the Canadian travel patterns and are concerned,” said Sara Otte Coleman, the director of the agency’s Marketing and Tourism Division.
Relations between the U.S. and Canada have been under stress since President Donald Trump took office. For one, the Trump administration currently has a 35% tariff on most imports from Canada. Canadian leaders have also expressed offense at certain comments made by Trump officials — like the president’s suggestion that Canada become the 51st state.
This has led some Canadians to boycott U.S. goods and travel.
Tourism industry research supports the notion that U.S. politics are a leading reason for the decline in Canadian visitors, Otte Coleman said. She pointed to a July survey that asked 1,000 Canadian adults how they feel about traveling to the U.S.
In the poll, conducted by consulting firm Longwoods International, 63% of respondents said policy and politics have made them less likely to visit. Of those, 80% reported that America’s tariffs and economic policy was part of their reluctance to travel, and 71% said rhetoric by U.S. leaders had created a “less welcoming environment” and a “greater uncertainty around cross-border travel.”
Department of Commerce data from April to June shows in-state hotel occupancy and visits to Theodore Roosevelt National Park are also down compared to 2024 and 2023.
Fred Walker is the global marketing manager for the Tourism Division. He said travel from European countries is either flat or up, but travel from Canada is a different story.
“We’re down quite a bit there,” he said.
He said some of that is based on misperceptions or misinformation, such as a bogus photo of tanks along the U.S.-Canada border that some people took as legitimate.
“But what we’re hearing is, people still want to come and see us,” Walker said. “Politics and policies change but the people here in North Dakota are who they were two years ago or 10 years ago.”
Fewer Canadians ordered tickets to the North Dakota State Fair this year even though the fair welcomed a record number of visitors overall, according to general manager Craig Rudland. The North Dakota State Fair in Minot had roughly 1,100 ticket orders from Canada this year compared to about 1,500 in 2024, Rudland said.
Rudland cautioned that these numbers are only rough estimates, however.
He said the state fair has a dedicated base of Canadian patrons. He said most of his friends north of the border don’t seem to be letting national news sway decisions to visit.
The executive director of Visit Grand Forks, the city’s convention and visitors bureau, declined an interview request about Canadian tourism. The Minot convention and visitors bureau did not return a request for comment.
The International Peace Garden, a botanical garden that straddles North Dakota and Manitoba near the Dunseith port of entry, this month held a handshake across the border in a display of enduring friendship between the two nations.
Americans and Canadians lined up on both sides of the border — which is marked in the middle of the garden — to greet one another and mingle.
Tim Chapman, the garden’s CEO, told the North Dakota Monitor previously that the event was intended to bring residents of U.S. and Canada together in spite of the ongoing friction between their leaders.
Between 300 and 400 people showed up for the event, according to International Peace Garden staff.
Velma Schmidt, a retired nurse from Winnipeg, was among the group of Canadian visitors to the International Peace Garden earlier this month.
“I try to come here at least once every year,” she said.
Schmidt said the tension between the U.S. and Canada has made trips across the border more nerve-wracking, but that the positive memories and connections she makes while traveling are worth it. She said she was apprehensive ahead of her vacation to Washington, D.C., and New York earlier this year, for instance, but had a great time and met a lot of friendly people.
Janet Dickson, who lives in a Manitoba town near the border, said during the event that she appreciated the opportunity to set aside national politics and have ordinary, face-to-face conversations as neighbors.
“We’re normal people,” she said.
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