The number of Canadians returning from trips to the U.S. dropped again last month, while the number of trips to Canada by U.S. residents increased for the first time in 12 months, Statistics Canada says.
A newly released Statistics Canada report states that last February, Canadian resident return trips from the United States totalled 1.5 million, down 14.5 per cent from the same month one year earlier.
Statistics Canada also states that in February, U.S. resident trips to Canada were up 6.1 per cent from the same month one year earlier to reach 959,600, marking the first increase after 12 consecutive months of year-over-year declines.
Meanwhile, Canadians are still travelling — just not to the U.S.
“Canadian-resident return trips from overseas countries by air totalled 1.3 million in February 2026, up 7.2% from the same month one year earlier,” Statistics Canada says.
“In February, for the second consecutive month, a greater number of Canadian residents returned from overseas by air (1.3 million) than from the United States by auto (1.0 million).”
The decline in travel rates comes as Canadians continue to avoid travelling to the U.S., a trend that started in early 2025 after the launch of the American administration’s trade war against Canada and threats to make the country into the “51st state.”
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The highest peaks of daily arrivals were on Friday, Feb. 13 and Saturday, Feb. 14, before President’s Day in the U.S., which fell on Feb. 16.
The lowest was seen on Tuesday, Feb. 3.
Statistics Canada stated that an even “sharper decline” (-31.5 per cent) was observed when comparing Canadian resident travel to the U.S. from February 2024 with February 2026.
Last month, both return trips by automobile and by air declined from February 2025.
In addition, overseas resident trips to Canada in February were up 10.5 per cent from February 2025.
A greater number of overseas residents arrived in Canada by air than by automobile in February 2026.
Statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) also showed that “slightly more than 18 million Canadian personal vehicles entered the U.S., dropping by 18.8 per cent compared to the year prior, more than 26 million Canadians entered by the same mode of transportation.”
The number of Canadian pedestrians entering the U.S. also dropped by 15.4 per cent.
These numbers were also released last month.
The Prime Minister’s Office released a statement Sunday revealing that Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump spoke that afternoon on “the economy, developments in the Middle East, and trade relations between the two countries” and agreed to “remain in close contact.”
Despite this, Trump again referred to Carney as the “future Governor of Canada” in a Truth Social post on Tuesday.
Trump’s post was in reference to working alongside U.S. governors to “save The Great Lakes from the rather violent and destructive Asian Carp.”
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