GRAND FORKS — The number of Canadian visitors into North Dakota continues to decline, likely due to political differences between the nations. Meanwhile, business leaders from the region continue to invite the nation’s northern neighbors into the state, hoping to keep the relationship between Canada and North Dakota positive.

Charley Johnson, president of the Fargo-Moorhead Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the bureau inquired about doing an ad campaign or working with a radio group in Canada to say Canadians are always welcomed and the area loves its Canadian friends, but the particular group he inquired with declined.

ADVERTISEMENT

“That radio group would not take our money,” he said.

Business and tourism industry representatives in Fargo and Grand Forks have noticed a decline in the number of Canadians crossing the border to spend time in their cities. Some are keeping detailed statistics that show the decline.

Greg Rixen, general manager of Happy Harry’s Bottle Shops in Grand Forks, has been monitoring crossing numbers at the Pembina, North Dakota, border for years, he said. It’s something Happy Harry’s has always done, but has focused on specifically since the COVID-19 pandemic. His data shows a decline in personal vehicles coming into North Dakota from the Pembina Port of Entry since the start of 2025.

Rixen’s numbers — gleaned from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Department of Transportation websites — shows January began with a 1.3% year-over-year decline that jumped to 24.6% in February. The trend has stayed between 33% and 38% over the last few months. As of July, the decline from 2024 to 2025 was 33.7%. There were 25,585 personal vehicle crossings in July 2024 and 16,965 in July this year.

The number of passengers in personal vehicles also similarly decreased. In July 2024, 66,310 passengers crossed the border through Pembina. This July there were 41,323, a decline of 37.7%.

Though fewer Canadians have been driving into North Dakota, air travel doesn’t seem to have taken as much of a hit, at least from the Grand Forks International Airport’s data. The airport keeps track of Canadian license plates in its passenger parking lots, said Ryan Riesinger, executive director. The average difference between 2024 and 2025 numbers, as far as June, shows a decline of 3%, he said.

“A slight difference, down a little bit but not terribly dramatic,” he said. “Canadians from Winnipeg and Manitoba, that’s a huge market for us, not only for the airport but for the entire community because of how they support hotels and restaurants and shops in Grand Forks and in our region.”

ADVERTISEMENT

At a state level, North Dakota Tourism and Marketing Communications Manager Kimberly Schmidt said the department is continuing to advertise in Canada this summer, with adjustments to marketing tone and timing. The department is also monitoring Canadian sentiment about U.S. travel and has estimates for lost visitor spending based on information from Tourism Economics, a company that specializes in tourist trends, impact and data. Tourism Economics, she said, puts the average spend per Canadian visitor to North Dakota at $190. Based on that, North Dakota Tourism estimates lost visitor spending for the first quarter of 2025 at $7,668,590 and the second quarter of 2025 at $6,750,320.

“YTD (year to date) estimate through June is $14.4 million in lost Canadian visitor spending,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt also said neighboring states have seen declines in Canadian visitors. Through June, Montana has been down 18.3% in personal vehicle entries. In Minnesota, the number through June was an 18.6% decrease.

At Happy Harry’s, Rixen also offers anecdotal evidence that points to reduced Canadian traffic. He has noticed a lack of Canadian customers in the store and has received comments and questions from Canadian customers. During the company’s annual spring “Penny Sale” — during which customers can purchase wine at greatly reduced prices — he and his team had their eyes opened to the decline, he said.

The sale started in May, when a 25% tariff on U.S.-made goods purchased in the United States was put on Canadian citizens returning to the country. Friends and acquaintances who had been coming to the sale twice a year for a decade didn’t come.

“Financially, you have a weak Canadian dollar, and then you throw that 25% tariff on at the border, it just wasn’t viable for Canadian customers to participate in that sale this year,” Rixen said.

Initially, President Donald Trump announced 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico; it was increased to 35% for Canada at the beginning of August. The initial tariff decision, according to Reuters and other national news sources, was made partially to counter the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs into the U.S., as well as to improve America’s trade balance with its neighbors. Trump also has openly discussed turning Canada into the 51st U.S. state.

ADVERTISEMENT

Canadians in recent months have said the situation has made things uncomfortable. In March , the Grand Forks Herald spoke with a few Canadians visiting the U.S. side of the border near Pembina. Ray Berard, of Winnipeg, said the tariffs are a reason for the decrease in visitors, and that Canadians are fending for themselves.

“Trump is powerful. We feel like we’ve been the little brother our whole lives and now maybe we’re not anymore,” Berard said.

Martin Ward, of Winnipeg, at the time said he wouldn’t be in the country if he didn’t have family in the states to visit.

“Trust has been torn,” he said. “Trust is a very fragile thing. It could be a long time before it can scar and then the scar tissue heals.”

Some Canadians have reached out to people in the states about the issue. Johnson, of the Fargo-Moorhead Convention and Visitors Bureau, said when the tension between the states and Canada began, he received calls from Canadians about the matter. From what he’s heard, the political climate is a factor.

“100% of course it is,” he said. “The 51st state talk is what really has put sort of a wall up. They were less angry than they were hurt and saddened by the break in the relationship between the states and Canada.”

Johnson said Canadian traffic is important for North Dakota’s tourism, the third largest industry in North Dakota behind agriculture and oil.

ADVERTISEMENT

Barry Wilfahrt, president and CEO of The Chamber of Grand Forks East Grand Forks, said he’s been hearing from local businesses that there’s been a significant decrease in Canadian customers, particularly in hospitality and retail industries. However, there has been a slight rebound in the last few months. The Chamber has been seeing more Manitoba plates and Canadian customers than it did three or four months ago, he said.

It gives him hope.

“I’m optimistic that we’re going to get closer to normal,” he said.

There are also active efforts at the federal level to mend the fractured political relationship between the U.S. and Canada. U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, said she is working with U.S. Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-North Dakota, as co-chairs of the Canada-United States Interparliamentary Group in an effort to improve relations. The two, along with other federal lawmakers, met with Prime Minister Mark Carney soon after Carney took office.

In a recent interview with the Grand Forks Herald, Klobuchar said she has noticed fewer Canadian tourists in Minnesota, she said, and believes tariffs shouldn’t be put on the United States’ allies and friends. She said she hopes things come to a better place.

She has plans to re-up a bill she introduced with other senators that declares Congress will have more power over decisions related to Canada. It has passed the Senate, but it is sitting in the House, she said.

“I would rather have Congress assert itself and stop being a rubber stamp,” she said. “The most I would rather have happen more immediately is the president – we find some way to work with our friends.”

ADVERTISEMENT