Nearly 300,000 fewer cars crossed the U.S.-Canadian border to New York state last month compared to the same period last year, according to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol numbers released Wednesday by U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who attributed that drop to President Donald Trump’s tariffs and the recent intensifying relationship with the northern neighbor.

The numbers say 290,000 fewer cars crossed entry points in upstate New York in the month of April, a 22% decrease from those during the month of April 2024. The highest decline came from the Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge crossing, which saw a 28% decrease from last year.

“Burning bridges and ruining relationships with our closest ally and key trading partner, Canada, right when summer tourism season is arriving, is about as destructive as it gets. Upstate New York is on the frontlines of Trump’s destructive tariff war, and this shocking new data shows our tourism economy is paying the price from Buffalo to Ogdensburg,” Schumer said in a statement Wednesday. “Instead of lowering costs, Trump’s tariffs are raising prices for families and driving away tourists who spend billions in our shops, hotels, restaurants, and support thousands of New York jobs. If this trend of depressed tourism continues, this could be a summer in Upstate New York that no small business wants to remember.”

Canada is the top source of international visitors to the U.S., with 20.4 million visits in 2024, generating $20.5 billion in spending and supporting 140,000 American jobs, Schumer said. In Western New York, Canadian tourism is nearly 40% of the overall tourism economy in Buffalo, and 15% of tourism dollars spent in Syracuse come from Canadians.

According to a recent North Country Chamber of Commerce survey, 66% of businesses are already experiencing a dip in Canadian bookings.

Schumer said if there were even a 10% reduction in Canadian travel, it could mean as much as $2 billion in lost spending and 14,000 job losses across America.

“The Peace Bridge, as a self-funded agency, is reliant on tolls generated by cross border traffic to provide service to the travelling public. We were just beginning to approach normal traffic volumes following the border restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 Pandemic,” said Ron Rienas, chief executive officer of the Peace Bridge Authority, in a statement. “The decline of car and truck traffic directly impacts our bottom line and that of every international crossing and hampers the ability to make investments to facilitate the safe and efficient movement of people and commerce.”

Canada was one of the first countries to be hit with a higher tariff rate as part of Trump’s sweeping trade agenda. Trump has also repeatedly suggested that the U.S. annex Canada or that the nation become the U.S.’s 51^st state. The president’s tariffs and his consistently expressed desire to make Canada a U.S. state was thought to have become significant factors in the country’s federal election last month in which Liberal Party leader Mark Carney defeated populist Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre. Carney campaigned on criticizing Trump, once declaring that country’s “old relationship” with the U.S. “is over.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.