Passenger trips to U.S. drop in February at Windsor, Sarnia border crossings

Heather Kitching · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 13, 2025 10:09 PM EDT | Last Updated: 12 minutes ago

Passenger conveyance postulation crossed the Detroit and Port Huron borderline crossings dropped importantly successful February, according to information from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. 

Around 25,000 less rider vehicles entered the United States via the Ambassador Bridge and Windsor-Detroit passageway — a driblet of 9.2 per cent implicit the aforesaid play successful 2024 and a reversal of a inclination that had seen cross-border rider postulation increasing.

That fig corresponds to the 1 reported past period by Windsor-Detroit Tunnel CEO Tal Czudner, who said determination had been astir an eight or 9 per cent alteration successful wide regular traffic.

"I deliberation we're seeing a enactment Canadian and bargain Canadian — benignant of a Canada pridefulness mentality – each crossed our country," Czudner said astatine the time, referring to Canadians' effect to American tariffs and tariff threats. 

"I deliberation you're seeing a batch of the discretionary trips staying home."

Many Canadians person reported cancelling trips to the United States and boycotting American-made products ever since U.S. President Donald Trump began threatening tariffs and to annex Canada by economical force.

The question bureau Flight Centre Travel Group Canada told the Canadian Press that leisure bookings to American cities dropped 40 per cent successful February from the aforesaid period successful 2024. One successful 5 customers cancelled their trips to the U.S. implicit the past 3 months, CP reported.

Cross-border rider trips had been trending upward

A full of 246,000 rider vehicles crossed the Detroit borderline successful February, according to the U.S. data.

That's down from 271,000 during the aforesaid play past twelvemonth but inactive supra 2023 levels of 229,000.

Prior to February, cross-border rider postulation had been higher than successful erstwhile years.

In January, 277,000 rider vehicles crossed into the U.S. astatine Windsor-Detroit crossings compared with 264,000 successful January of 2024.

In December, the fig was 307,000 compared to 292,000 successful December of 2023.

At the Port Huron border, the fig of Canadian rider vehicles entering the U.S. via the Blue Water Bridge and Algonac ferry dropped by astir 21 per cent successful February, falling from 64,700 rider vehicles successful 2024 to 50,800.

That's adjacent little than February of 2023, erstwhile 57,200 rider vehicles crossed the border

Passenger postulation crossed the Port Huron borderline had been astatine oregon supra erstwhile year's levels anterior to February, but successful December, erstwhile it fell beneath December 2023 levels by astir 1,200 vehicles.

The U.S information is accordant with numbers released by Statistics Canada connected Monday, which recovered that the fig of trips by Canadian residents returning from the U.S. by car declined by 23 per cent, oregon 1.2 cardinal trips, nationwide implicit February of 2025. 

"We bash spot a alteration successful postulation coming from the US, astir a 25 per cent alteration successful shoppers going to the U.S. " said Mark Webber, the nationalist president of the Customs and Immigration Union, which represents frontline employees of the Canada Border Services Agency. 

U.S. conveyance postulation to Canada was besides down successful February. 

There were 676,800 U.S. nonmigratory trips to Canada by automobile past month, a driblet of 7.9 per cent implicit February of 2024.

StatCan information comes from the Canada Border Services Agency's Integrated Primary Inspection Line system, which captured 88.9 per cent of automobile entries successful 2024, according to StatCan's website.