Northern New York state communities are feeling the impacts of reduced visitation
By Cara Chapman, NCPR reporter
New data released by Statistics Canada backs up the notion that Canadians are avoiding travel to the U.S. amid tensions with President Donald Trump’s administration.
The agency reports the number of Canadian residents returning from the U.S. by car declined by 23% in February compared to the year before.
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Plattsburgh Town Supervisor Michael Cashman said he wasn’t surprised.
“All you have to do is drive around or walk around in the town center and you’re starting to see the decrease in Canadian license plates,” he said. “You’re seeing the reduction at the mall, you’re seeing a reduction at the box stores but you’re also seeing it (at) … places like hotels and restaurants and small business shops. It’s most concerning.”
Affecting businesses and local government
It’s the second month in a row that Canadian return trips have declined, though January’s change was much lower at .9%. Up until this year, Canadian traffic hadn’t seen any year over year declines since March 2021, still during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This movement away from U.S. products and travel appears to be fueled by frustrations with the Trump administration. The president has made comments about Canada becoming the 51st state and threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods.
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Cashman said the decrease in Canadian traffic is causing a lot of sadness and anxiety in the Plattsburgh area. He said restaurants and small businesses rely on Canadian customers, and tourism fuels sales tax revenue, which is a big deal for the town itself.
“The town of Plattsburgh is preparing budgetarily to position ourself like we did during COVID, reducing costs,” he said. “We already use a modified, zero-based budget process but we’re gonna take a very conservative approach.”
That caution and the tariffs are impacting the town’s development plans, including construction of the Battlefield Memorial Gateway, a veterans park the town hopes to have ready in time for the country’s semiquincentennial next year.
Preserving the relationship
There’s been a lot of back and forth about the tariffs in recent days. The Trump administration officially implemented them early last week, then created temporary exemptions two days later. This week, Ontario imposed a 25% surcharge on electricity exports to the U.S., but backed down after Washington threatened to double new tariffs on Canadian metals.
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Cashman said he’s focused on preserving the relationship with Canadians by keeping in touch with his local government counterparts across the border. He said the message for everyone is that Canadians are not the enemy.
“One day there will be a change — change is the only thing that’s consistent in the world — but we need to make sure that we can protect the relationship,” he said. “I stand united with Canada in our frustration and anxiety because we are both in the impact zone.”
Top photo: American and Canadian flags line Lake Street in Rouses Point. File photo: Ryan Finnerty.
Keeping up with changes happening in Washington
Learn how Adirondack communities, environmental organizations, and individuals are impacted by changes in federal policies.
You need to stop w your left leaning poltical content .
nothing leaning about this article. its cites raw travel numbers and talks to local businesses. you can pretend all you want that the reality we live in a hoax, but we know that isn’t true.
hows your stock portfolio doing? hear elon musk say we need to cut social security yesterday? you are in for a very rude awakening when you step into this reality and out of the fairytale delusion you live in.
Why doesn’t the US & Canada be good neighbors and get rid of all tariffs and taxes between them?
No one is cutting Social Security, they want to eliminate the FRAUDULENT CLAIMS, that will save Social Security.
Yeah, I’m sure our stock portfolios are going to suffer short term, but we all took quite a hit when Biden became president. I took me 4 long years for mine to recover from the highs of Trump’s first term.
Wake Up, the WOKE thing is over.
Well George failed civics and economics in high school.
First Question Response: NY cannot make treaties with foreign governments as those rights are exercised at the federal level. Therefore they cannot circumvent federal tarriffs.
Second Point:
The 46th president of the United States is bringing his time at the White House to a close with the S&P 500 SPX up over 55% since he took office on Jan. 20, 2021. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA advanced more than 39% over the same period, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite COMP jumped nearly 46%, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
Third point: I don’t know what your definition of WOKE is but there is nothing stated above that provides any indication the term was invoked . This entirely an article and response about capitalism in the truest definition of the term. The policies of the Trump administration are downright hostile to small businesses and are poised to lead the economy to contract. The 1929 depression was sparked in large part to Hoover enacting large scale tarriffs and Trump is following the playbook. There is plenty of reason to be concerned about catering returns in response to the federal policy we are seeing today.
George never implied that NYS should make a tariff deal with Canada. He clearly stated the U.S.
We’ve been operating 2 lodges on our property in the Adirondacks for 37 years. We switched to offering groups only lodging in 2020 (no individual room rentals) and we hold 10 – 12 people per group per building. We charge approximately $800/night per group. Close to 100% return year after year and stay during the same time period. We get to know each group extremely well and consider many to be good friends.
4 of our approximatley 70 groups are Canadian. Not a large amount but they all come mid-week and stay 4 or 5 nights. All 4 groups have cancelled for this summer, reducing our gross by approximately $13,000 . Because they are mid-week, I doubt at this point we’ll be able to re-book those dates (groups usually book way ahead). That $13,000 might not sound like a lot but to us, it is.
These facts are presented here to help individuals better comprehend the effect this tarriff war with our neighbors is having on at least one local business… and for what purpose?
SstHopefully if they aren’t coming they cancel their campground reservations so someone preferably from NY can camp. State campgrounds are subsidized by state tax dollars and the $5 extra per night for out of state or out of country needs to be reevaluated for inflation
Well, I think that this is going to be the case for awhile. So, what do we do to solve the problem? These businesses are going to have to figure out how to attract more US based customers. Many North Country businesses had their very best years during the period where the border was totally closed. So it can be done, but you gotta have the right attitude, and it definitely won’t be solved by just complaining. Many people that came to the Adirondacks during those times, that would have have probably been going elsewhere need to be attracted back. Some renters that we had for our place that needed a place closer to home to vacation have been coming back each year.. Interestingly my anecdote and data point to add here is that we have our Adirondack property fully rented the earliest it has ever been. We have never had canadian renters despite the proximity. Have a family from Belgium that comes each year? They are coming back, I am not going to charge them a tariff…
^^^^^What Paul said.
I PERSONALLY KNOW 5 DIFFERENT PEOPLE WHO HAVE CANCELED THEIR TRIPS TO CANADA THIS YEAR. SO BOYCOTTS WORK BOTH WAYS EVERYONE