New traffic data released by the Whatcom Council of Governments show a dramatic 32 percent decline in personal-vehicle crossings from British Columbia into Washington State during January 2026 compared with the same month last year. The Peace Arch, Pacific Highway, Lynden and Sumas ports of entry collectively processed just 108,289 trips—down from 158,766 in January 2025 and well below pre-pandemic volumes.
Analysts cite a cocktail of factors behind the slump: prolonged diplomatic friction with the second Trump administration, tariff threats on Canadian steel and EV batteries, and Canadian outrage at high-profile U.S. immigration raids broadcast on social media. The result is a noticeable withholding of tourism and shopping dollars normally spent in Bellingham and Seattle, with retailers reporting double-digit sales drops.
Organizations and individual travelers looking for clarity on cross-border paperwork can streamline the process through VisaHQ, whose Canadian portal (https://www.visahq.com/canada/) provides up-to-date guidance on U.S. entry requirements, business visas, and NEXUS renewals—an especially useful resource while land-border patterns remain unpredictable.
![Cross-Border Trips from B.C. to U.S. Plunge 32 % in January]()
For mobility managers the figures underline a behavioural shift that could complicate U.S. short-term assignments that rely on frequent land crossings to reset visa-waiver clocks. Fewer discretionary trips also mean smaller sample sizes for NEXUS trusted-traveller lanes, which may prompt CBSA and U.S. CBP to redeploy officers elsewhere, lengthening wait times for essential business travellers.
Canadian employers with staff commuting to U.S. client sites by car should prepare alternative routing or negotiate remote-work arrangements. Duty-of-care teams may also want to brief employees on the optics of holding Canadian passports at sensitive checkpoints given the current political climate.
The Whatcom Council will release February data next month, but cross-border chambers of commerce warn that a continued slide could imperil small-town economies on both sides of the 49th parallel. Discussions are under way to revive a bilateral tourism marketing fund first used post-9/11.
Analysts cite a cocktail of factors behind the slump: prolonged diplomatic friction with the second Trump administration, tariff threats on Canadian steel and EV batteries, and Canadian outrage at high-profile U.S. immigration raids broadcast on social media. The result is a noticeable withholding of tourism and shopping dollars normally spent in Bellingham and Seattle, with retailers reporting double-digit sales drops.
Organizations and individual travelers looking for clarity on cross-border paperwork can streamline the process through VisaHQ, whose Canadian portal (https://www.visahq.com/canada/) provides up-to-date guidance on U.S. entry requirements, business visas, and NEXUS renewals—an especially useful resource while land-border patterns remain unpredictable.
For mobility managers the figures underline a behavioural shift that could complicate U.S. short-term assignments that rely on frequent land crossings to reset visa-waiver clocks. Fewer discretionary trips also mean smaller sample sizes for NEXUS trusted-traveller lanes, which may prompt CBSA and U.S. CBP to redeploy officers elsewhere, lengthening wait times for essential business travellers.
Canadian employers with staff commuting to U.S. client sites by car should prepare alternative routing or negotiate remote-work arrangements. Duty-of-care teams may also want to brief employees on the optics of holding Canadian passports at sensitive checkpoints given the current political climate.
The Whatcom Council will release February data next month, but cross-border chambers of commerce warn that a continued slide could imperil small-town economies on both sides of the 49th parallel. Discussions are under way to revive a bilateral tourism marketing fund first used post-9/11.
