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Ahmad Mukhtar is a producer for CBS News based in Toronto, Canada. He covers politics, conflict and terrorism, with a focus on news from Canada and his home nation of Afghanistan, which he left following the Taliban's return to power in 2021.

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May 12, 2026 / 12:22 PM EDT / CBS News

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Toronto — The neighbors just aren't visiting the way they used to.

A study by the University of Toronto suggests a roughly 42% reduction in visits to U.S. cities by residents of Canada last year. The drop — much steeper than official border crossing statistics suggest — is largely attributed to mounting political and trade tension between the two countries.

By tracking cellphone activity, University of Toronto researchers found "a year-over-year median decline of approximately 42% in Canadian visits to U.S. metropolitan areas."

According to official statistics , the number of Canadians who entered the country after returning from the U.S. in 2025 was down 25%, while the number of U.S.…