When Donald Trump’s handpicked ambassador complained that Canadians were “mean and nasty” to deal with, it sounded like just another insult in a long list of jabs. But this time, something different happened.
Canadians didn’t scream. They didn’t march.
They quietly stopped showing up.
Flights that used to be packed with Canadian tourists heading to Florida and Arizona?
Now leaving with rows of empty seats.
Outlet malls, border casinos, hockey-road-trip hotels in U.S. border towns?
Suddenly, half-vacant.
Behind the scenes, the numbers are brutal.
In 2025, international visitor spending in the United States is projected to fall by around 7%, more than $12.5 billion USD wiped off the books. And the biggest missing piece of that puzzle? Not China. Not Europe.
Canada.
Canadian travelers alone are expected to slash their U.S. spending by about $5.7 billion USD, with an estimated 320 million fewer visits. That’s not a “dip.” It’s an economic warning shot.
U.S. states are panicking.
– California rolled out a special marketing blitz targeting Canadians after visitor numbers dropped 12% in February.
– In Buffalo, stores are literally offering $500 gift cards just to lure Canadians back across the border.
Meanwhile, north of that border, a different energy is building.
Trump’s trade war, his talk of punishing tariffs, and his bizarre suggestion that Canada should become the “51st state” have triggered something he never expected: a surge in Canadian pride and economic self-defense.
Polls in early 2025 show 67% of Canadians now say they feel proud or very proud of their nationality — a jump of 9 points in just two months. That pride is turning into action.
The “Buy Canadian” wave isn’t just a slogan. It’s a movement.
– Two-thirds of consumers say they actively seek Made in Canada products.
– Provinces like Ontario, Quebec, B.C., Manitoba, and Nova Scotia have all looked at scaling back American-made wine, beer, and spirits in their government-run liquor stores.
– Ontario’s LCBO, which used to send nearly $1 billion CAD a year to U.S. alcohol producers, has reportedly paused new U.S. orders.
Even sports arenas have become a stage for quiet resistance.
The U.S. national anthem has been booed at NHL games in Ottawa and at an NBA game in Toronto — not out of hate for ordinary Americans, but as a very clear message to the man at the top.
But the real revolution is happening in private:
Families cancelling Disney runs.
Snowbirds skipping Florida.
Seniors who used to spend winters in Arizona now spending them in Cancún, Lisbon, or the Caribbean.
The data is staggering:
- Canadians returning by car from the U.S. plunged 35% in April 2025 and 36.9% in July year-over-year.
- Air travel between the two countries dropped more than 20% in spring and nearly 25% in summer.
- Among Canadians aged 61+, the traditional “Florida crowd,” only 10% still plan to visit the U.S. — a jaw-dropping 66% collapse from the year before.
- About 54% of Canadians who own U.S. property are now considering selling, and 62% say politics is part of the reason.
Canada isn’t retreating. It’s re-routing.
That money is still being spent — just not in America.
- Bookings to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe are soaring.
- Air France and KLM report nearly a 30% jump in bookings from Canada.
- Mexico has surged to become the second most popular winter destination for Canadians, rapidly closing the gap with the U.S.
At home, the economic effect is stunning:
From May to August 2025, domestic tourism inside Canada generated $59 billion CAD, a 6% year-over-year increase, as people chose to explore their own country instead of crossing the border.
Manufacturing is shifting too:
- Canadian brands like Irving Personal Care saw shipments quadruple as retailers moved away from U.S. products.
- American brands that ignored the shift have been punished — one U.S. company reportedly lost 98% of its Canadian market share and had to move production to Montreal to survive.
- Major chains like Walmart, Loblaws, Metro, and others are quietly shrinking U.S. imports and giving more space to Canadian-made goods.
In Windsor, auto suppliers are redesigning their entire supply chains to avoid potential U.S. tariffs that could add over $6,000 per vehicle. Geography, once treated as a vulnerability, is suddenly an advantage.
Here’s the twist:
This wasn’t led by politicians. It wasn’t orchestrated by Ottawa.
It was led by regular Canadians, making a simple choice:
If you insult our country and threaten our economy —
we’ll stop funding yours.
Trump tried to humiliate Canada with words.
Canadians answered with something far more powerful:
Economic blowback.
And every cancelled trip, every unsold U.S. bottle on a liquor store shelf, every redirected vacation is now part of a quiet, relentless message:
We heard you.
We remember.
And we’re spending accordingly.
Leave a Reply