Oh, Canada, Will You Ever Forgive Us? Will We Ever Forgive Ourselves?

What happens when a nation elects Trump twice.

Donald Trump has launched a destructive trade war against our economic allies while sending his fascist goons to invade his own country. It’s not a surprise that people from countries with sensible governments are staying away.

Canadians account for most American tourism and contribute an annual $20 billion to the U.S. economy. That’s changed dramatically since Trump’s return to power. Forbes reports that Canadian road trips into the U.S. dropped a whopping 33 percent in June compared to the same month in 2024. May was worse with a 38 percent year-to-year decrease. There was also a 22 percent decline in Canadian air travel, which greatly increases the likelihood you’ll sit next to someone who shoves their dirty bare feet in your face.

New England has been hit hard, especially Vermont. Bob Montgomery from Hill Farmstead Brewery told PBS, “We just had a large festival … and 50 or 60 of the ticket holders just did not come.” Jay Peak Resort, just south of the border, once thrived on Canadian season pass holders. Now, they are 30 to 35 percent off their usual pass renewals. President and General Manager Steve Wright called the former pass holders directly and he said “to a household, they referred back to the 51st state narrative as being emblematic of the reason that they’re not coming.”

PBS journalist William Brangham observed, “Normally, the Vermont highways in summertime are full of cars with Canadian license plates. Here we are in summer on the road we haven’t seen any.”

(I love Vermont so I’m checking for any vacation deals for August. Call me an opportunist or a patriot trying to help out my fellow citizens.)

---

---

Donald Trump’s Canada War Proves He’s A Few Curds Short Of A Poutine

According to Maine’s Office of Tourism, Canadians spent about $497.7 million in the state last year. However, for five straight months in 2025, the number of Canadian travelers has fallen behind 2024’s levels. Patrick Woodcock, president of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, said, “Five percent of our total tourism is from Canada. It seems like a small number, but it can have a very pronounced [impact] in some geographic areas.” This also impacts small, local businesses, like the Portland By The Foot walking tour company. (They offer Black History tours, as well, so go check them out before the Trump administration shuts them down.)

Tourism Economics, a division of Oxford Economics, had originally forecasted that the U.S. would enjoy a nine percent jump in international inbound travel this year. That would have delivered a $16.3 billion boost in revenue to the U.S. economy. revenue. However, Trump has stomped through the global economy like some mindless kaiju. The World Travel & Tourism Council now predicts that the U.S. will lose an estimated $12.5 billion in international visitor spending this year compared to 2024.

Trump demands wartime sacrifices. Good luck with that.

Fewer Americans are traveling to Canada, as well, but the decline in the northern direction isn’t as steep. Dan Davis of Cleveland, Ohio, had planned a motorcycle trip this summer that included a few days in Ontario, but he changed his plans out of concerns that Canadians might have like ugly Americans.

“On a motorcycle, you’re a little more vulnerable,” Davis said. “All it takes is one person to say, ‘You know what, I’m going to show these guys a lesson,’ whether it’s vandalizing a bike or … throwing a beer can at you.”

Canadians might start singing their national anthem Casablanca-style when they spot American tourists, but they aren’t going to assault anyone like they’re at a Trump rally. Davis is from a state that voted for Trump twice and produced JD Vance, so perhaps he feels especially guilty.

Of course, Canadians have taken the effort to reassure American tourists that they’ll receive a warm welcome. One Canadian tourism group has launched an ad in the New York and New England markets where a Canadian hotel clerk gives an American guest a big hug. The tagline states, “Come hug it out in the Eastern Townships.” (Watch below.)

This ad seems especially tailored for Chicago educator Cheryl Carlson, who told The New York Times in March that she plans to immediately disclose her nationality to the owners of the accommodations where she and her husband are staying during a trip to Canada “to make sure our presence would not cause a small business to feel uncomfortable hosting us.” She’s from Chicago, so this is a little like someone “fessing” up to an American hotel clerk that they’re from Newfoundland.

Peter Serkian also told the Times that he makes a point to only pay in Canadian dollars not U.S. currency. “I try to hide that I am an American,” he said. It’s like he’s a secret agent! (I do like that his idea of “hiding” that he’s American is doing the bare minimum.)

Maine Gov. Janet Mills has tried to mend fences with our Canadian neighbors, but the Trump-sized elephant in the nation’s capital is hard to avoid.

Multiple news outlets have reported that they’re afraid to travel abroad in general because they fear hostility and backlash. According to a March poll, 72 percent of respondents believed Americans would be “perceived more negatively abroad in 2025 due to recent U.S. international policy proposals.”

I think this is perhaps an overreaction. Americans were treated well abroad during the first Trump administration, and while we pushed our luck re-electing that fool, the upside is that it probably didn’t dramatically alter other nations’ collective opinions of us. Besides, people in other nations have access to social media where entitled, culturally rigged Americans frequently criticized other countries, especially if they don’t let you make arbitrary changes to your meals. Journalist Billy Binion at Reason posted recently that Europe is a collection of “third-world countries with better branding” because they don’t have dryers, air conditioning, or put ice in your drinks.

This week, our son is at a sleep-away camp not far from the Canadian border. Last year, my wife and I briefly considered staying nearby in Vancouver, B.C., but we worried about holdups in customs if there were an emergency and we had to get back quickly. Now, we’re more concerned that I’d get slapped in some gulag because I’ve written unfavorably about the mad king. A troubling number of legal U.S. residents have been detained or outright deported after border control went through their phone. So, we played it safe and are staying in a cabin in Washington state. It’s my idea of camping — only one bathroom.