Southbound border crossings in B.C.’s Lower Mainland see sharp drop in 2025 [Video]

As U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods took hold at the start of this year, the number of vehicles with B.C. licence plates heading south via border crossings dropped sharply, data shows.

Data from the Whatcom Council of Governments — a U.S. regional government agency that is centred along the northwest Washington state border — shows a nearly 43 per cent drop in vehicles with B.C. licence plates heading south via Lower Mainland border crossings this March compared to March 2024.

The number of border crossings had also begun to drop in February, but they took a sharp downward turn after Trump imposed tariffs in the first week of March, amid a wave of anti-U.S. sentiment and a push to stay north of the border.

The mayor of Blaine, Wash., situated near the Canada-U.S. border, is pleading with Canadians to consider returning, even as the minister leading B.C.’s tariff response acknowledged there will continue to be pain on both sides of the border due to …