Worry in border towns 1 year into B.C. residents avoiding trips to Washington state

A sustained trend of British Columbians staying north of the Washington state border in 2025 is leading to fears from border towns that depend on Canadians to survive.

Data from the Whatcom Council of Governments — a U.S. regional government agency centred along the northwest Washington state border — shows a 35 per cent drop overall in southbound border crossings for B.C. vehicles in 2025 compared to 2024.

The overall trend of fewer British Columbians heading south of the border began in early 2025 and continued for the rest of the year.

The drop in Canadian traffic has been keenly felt by businesses in towns like Blaine, Wash., where parcel businesses have been closing down and once-bustling gas stations are seeing much less traffic.

Border town officials say there's a range of reasons why Canadians aren't heading south anymore — from the weak exchange rate compared to the U.S. dollar, to the lack of consumer carbon tax making gas a little bit cheaper up north.

But Blaine, Wash., Mayor Mary Lou Steward says that it mostly comes down to Canadians' trust in Americans being broken due to the tariff war and annexation threats from U.S. President Donald Trump.

"I'm realistic enough to realize that even if this administration leaves and a different administration [comes in] ... the trust has been broken," she said.

Steward believes it will take many generations before that trust can be restored and said border towns like hers should have looked at diversifying their economies years ago.

She and other Blaine residents continue to plead for Canadians to visit, however, saying they share much in common.

"We want to welcome Canadians. There's a lot of dual citizens living down here, and also we're very dependent on the people visiting and supporting our restaurants, supporting our stores," she said.

'Putting more nails in the coffin'

Blaine-based immigration lawyer Len Saunders said it's been an "absolute collapse" of cross-border travel from Canadians.

He said the rhetoric from the U.S. federal government towards Canadians — and stories about shootings by federal immigration agents and detainments — was not making the situation any better.

"I think the nail was put in the coffin six months ago. They're just putting more nails in the coffin, discouraging Canadians from coming down here," Saunders said of the federal administration.

"We're frustrated," the lawyer added. "I don't know what to do. You can only say, 'We love Canadians,' so many times."

Despite Saunders's immigration law firm being busy since the advent of the Trump administration, he says he's heard of few issues at the local border crossings — but even so, attitudes towards cross-border travel seem to have hardened.

"We're not even a year into the current administration, and it just doesn't seem to be getting any better," he said.

Laurie Trautman, director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University in Bellingham, said she initially thought the sharp drop in B.C.-Wash. border crossings last year was a blip.

"In some ways it starts to feel like a new normal, which is sort of a sad thing to say because I think many of us hoped this would not be a long-term situation," she said.

"Particularly between B.C. and Washington state, which shares so many connections, so many families, so many friends."

There are common challenges and opportunities that residents share across the 49th parallel — from recent cross-border flooding to the upcoming World Cup.

"I just think there's a lot of reasons for us to continue to work together to continue to maintain good relations at this regional scale, even if that means that Canadians aren't actually crossing the border," she said.