Blaine, Wash., mayor fears that trust between Canadians and Americans may be broken for generations 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 ratecompared to the U.S. dollar, to the lack of consumer carbon tax making gas a little bit cheaper up north. But Blaine Mayor Mary Lou Steward says that it mostly comes down to Canadians’ trust in Americans being broken due to the tariff warand 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.
Your comment will appear immediately after submission.