For yet another month, the number of B.C. drivers heading south into Washington state was down.
Compiling data from four border crossings — Peace Arch, Lynden, Sumas, and Pacific Highway — the Whatcom Council of Governments says there was a 22 per cent drop-off in March, compared to the same month last year.
Compared to March 2024, the rate was down 55 per cent.
In January, Whatcom reported a 36 per cent drop in B.C. licence plates crossing the border over all of 2025.
The drop-off began in February 2025, within weeks of U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration, when he began threatening to annex Canada, referring to it as the “51st state,” and imposing steep tariffs.
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Whatcom County notes its data for March is incomplete, missing five days, but the entry follows a trend of border crossings declining month-over-month since August 2025.
According to Statistics Canada, the number of Canadians taking return trips to the U.S. dropped 25.4 per cent in 2025, while overseas trips rose 9.2 per cent.