Roughly 85,000 fewer travelers crossed into Maine from Canada this May than in 2024, continuing a trend of decreased border traffic since President Donald Trump took office.

Since February, Maine has seen a 27.5% drop over last year in travelers crossing the border, according to data released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection this week. That’s sharper than the national average: the number of travelers crossing via the northern border to all states fell about 16.8%.

The continued decline comes as Maine’s tourism industry braces for an estimated 25% decrease in Canadian visitors, and as the Pine Tree State’s northern neighbors continue to boycott American destinations in light of Trump’s tariffs and rhetoric about trying to annex Canada as the 51st state.

About 176,000 travelers crossed into Maine last month, two thirds as many as May of last year. The figure includes tourists as well as residents of border communities who more regularly cross into the United States to shop, work, and visit friends and loved ones.

The May total is about 30,000 more travelers than April, which marked a two-year low, with fewer than 148,000 travelers. But the growth still fails to keep pace with last year: From April to May 2024, Maine saw an increase of about 35,000 crossings, from about 225,000 to 260,000.

In other words, visitors are down, and the summer crowd doesn’t seem to be picking up as quickly as it did last year.

“I think it’s hitting all of us. What I’m hearing from my members is that numbers are down,” said Jane Torres, executive director of the Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce. “People are nervous. They’re nervous about going back and forth over the border.”

Torres said her members, like businesses across Maine, are working to attract Canadians — including by putting up welcoming signs Gov. Janet Mills’ office distributed — but she said doing so is difficult “when we’re the aggressors,” referencing policies out of Washington.

“It kind of puts a bad taste in people’s mouths,” she said. “They’re going elsewhere.”

But she said it was too early into the season to tell, and she suggested that the full impact to Maine’s tourism economy may not be understood until the end of 2025.

Maureen Terry, spokesperson for the Department of Economic and Community Development, said several other factors, including “weather patterns and broader economic conditions” may also be to blame for the lower figures.

“May is very early in the season and given the external factors, it remains to be seen if that will influence the rest of the summer,” Terry said in an email.

Business owners in other touristy towns told the Press Herald last month they were seeing moderate drops in Canadian bookings, but many in Old Orchard Beach and Bar Harbor said they felt positioned to weather the uncertainty. Some said they were feeling better than they had been before the season kicked off, though they noted that it was still early.

Mills’ office has attempted to court Canadian visitors through bilingual signage at the borders and an upcoming “goodwill road trip” to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia early next week. Mills will meet with local chambers of commerce, provincial leaders and tour a marine technology research hub, her office announced Friday.

“We want to make sure that Canadian citizens understand that we want them to come,” Mills said during a discussion with Northeast governors and Canadian premiers Monday.

But Canadian leaders at that same event said they were not encouraging their constituents to travel to the U.S.

New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt said it was up to Americans to demonstrate the harm of the Trump administration’s policies to their own leadership.

“I can’t tell Canadians to come visit the U.S. now,” Holt said.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he would never stop interested Canadians from crossing the border, but he would first encourage them to travel in their own country.

A spokesperson for Mills on Friday referred questions about the drop to written statements made earlier this week noting the state’s “special relationship with our Canadian neighbors,” and emphasizing the need to maintain it.