Political 'chaos' keeping some on P.E.I. from heading south of the border this spring

Stephen Brun · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 11, 2025 7:21 PM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

March interruption is close astir the corner, but the authorities of Canada-U.S. relations arsenic of precocious has immoderate Prince Edward Islanders rethinking their question plans. 

A commercialized warfare is escalating betwixt the 2 countries, prompted by U.S. President Donald Trump's ever-evolving threats to spot punishing tariffs connected goods the United States imports from this country. 

Couple that with Trump's musings astir annexing Canada and making it the 51st state, and it's been a look for anti-American sentiment and a increasing question to walk wealth locally. 

"[I] person nary volition of going to the U.S. due to the fact that of the contiguous climate," Islander Jesse Strang said when CBC News sent a unit retired to the streets of Charlottetown to inquire astir question plans. 

"It's made maine consciousness much patriotic astir staying successful Canada." 

WATCH | 'Definitely not': Some Prince Edward Islanders accidental they mean to debar U.S. travel:

He's not the lone one. Numbers released by Statistics Canada this week showed that in the period of February, the fig of Canadians travelling to the U.S. by car dropped 23 per cent compared to the aforesaid period past year.

The diminution successful aerial question was lone astir 2 per cent, but question agents said that's not a astonishment due to the fact that flights, abrogation packages and cruises are often booked and paid for months oregon adjacent years successful advance. 

"Travellers are looking astatine the ownership of the companies they're booking through," said Frances Gertsch, an cause with Stewart Travel Group. "I'm decidedly seeing radical being arrogant of moving with Canadian companies each the time, but ne'er an anti-American sentiment.

"That's thing I hadn't heard," she said — until this winter.

The White House said Tuesday that Trump volition spell up with a 25 per cent tariff connected Canadian alloy and aluminum conscionable aft midnight, capping disconnected yet different chaotic time of commercialized threats and 51st authorities taunts.

These tariffs are abstracted from the others Trump levied connected Canada past week — and aboriginal partially dialled backmost — to supposedly unit the state to bash much astatine the borderline connected drugs and migrants.

Some Islanders said those tactics, on with the comparatively anemic Canadian dollar, motivated them to cancel immoderate U.S. question plans.

But others had much idiosyncratic reasons. 

Fernanda Ruiz is from Mexico and lives successful Charlottetown. She had a travel booked to Orlando this year, but cancelled her plans due to the fact that of Trump's attraction of some the countries she considers home. 

"Especially the mode he is with my country… I would alternatively enactment present and question to different parts [of Canada] oregon spell to Mexico," she said.

"I consciousness it's amended to assistance the countries that are really with us." 

Shawn Carnes is an American national who came to P.E.I. a fewer years agone to work. He made a conscious determination to enactment and effort to get his imperishable residency due to the fact that of the governmental clime successful the U.S. 

"I privation to enactment here. This is wherever I work, this is wherever we're yet going to get imperishable residency," helium said.

"So yeah, perfectly the chaos successful the United States is making maine privation to enactment here."

For those Islanders looking to cancel already-made question plans southbound of the border, Gertsch cautions that they should cheque the presumption and conditions of their bookings to debar losing money. 

"It's truly important erstwhile you publication question that you cognize what you're getting into, and erstwhile you tin cancel and erstwhile you can't," she said. 

"Unfortunately, patriotism is not 1 of the reasons you tin cancel without having a penalty."