Relations between the United States and Canada weren’t exactly warm when we left for our recent trip to Montréal and Québec City. And since we returned, they’ve gotten even worse.
The latest breakdown in trade negotiations has brought another round of tariff threats, Canadian retaliation and plenty of strong language from both sides. Add in the repeated comments about Canada becoming America’s “51st state,” and it’s understandable why many Canadians aren’t feeling particularly friendly toward the United States right now.
Social media certainly makes that clear.
Because the internet knows where we’ve recently traveled, my feeds have been filled with posts from Canadians saying they’re prepared to stand up to the United States and its government. There are renewed calls to buy Canadian products, avoid American businesses and continue staying away from the U.S.
That last part isn’t just social media talk. Canadian-resident trips to the United States fell 25.4% in 2025, according to Statistics Canada.
Since we live in Central Florida, we’ve felt some of that closer to home. Canada is still Orlando’s largest international market, but Canadian visitors to the area dropped 13.3% in 2025. That matters in a city whose economy depends heavily on tourism.
With all that going on, we wondered how Canadians would react to us.
Would Canadians Treat Us Differently?
Even before the latest blowup, Canada’s opinion of the United States had already been deteriorating for more than a year. We weren’t worried enough to reconsider the trip, but we were aware that being American might affect how people treated us.
After spending five days in Montréal and Québec City, however, we didn’t experience any of that.
Whenever we told someone we were from south of the border, the reaction was friendly. People were interested in where we lived, and several mentioned that they had visited Orlando in the past.
No one said they were planning another trip anytime soon, but that wasn’t surprising given how many Canadians have decided to avoid traveling to the United States.
The most overtly anti-U.S. thing we encountered was in a few gift shops selling “Canada Is Not for Sale” merchandise. That was clearly a response to the comments about Canada becoming the 51st state. But even that felt more like Canadian pride than hostility toward American tourists.
Disliking A Government Isn’t The Same As Disliking Its People
The difference between what we saw online and what we experienced in person was striking, but it wasn’t entirely surprising.
We’ve repeatedly encountered it during our international travels. People may strongly disagree with the American government while remaining friendly and curious about individual Americans.
We once had a Cuban cab driver who wanted to know if we knew Derek Jeter. At the Hard Rock Cafe in Japan, a server wanted to talk with us nonstop about what it was like to live in the United States.
Those conversations weren’t about tariffs, foreign policy or whichever political controversy was dominating the news. They were simply people meeting people.
That’s also what happened in Canada.
The Canadians we met could be angry about how the United States is treating their country. They could support boycotting American products or decide not to spend their vacation dollars in Florida. None of that prevented them from being perfectly pleasant to a couple of Americans visiting their country.
We’ve Had The Same Concern Elsewhere
Canada wasn’t the first place where we wondered whether current events might affect how people reacted to us.
We’ve had similar thoughts before trips to Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and France. The United States doesn’t always have the best reputation abroad, and our government’s actions have angered people in other countries many times.
So far, those concerns have always turned out to be unfounded.
That doesn’t mean every American will be welcomed everywhere or that nobody will ever make a political comment. It also doesn’t mean the deterioration in international relationships has no effect on travel. Canadians are clearly demonstrating that it does, particularly when deciding whether to visit the United States.
But that’s different from assuming people in another country will treat you poorly simply because you’re American.
Final Thought
The diplomatic relationship between the United States and Canada may be at one of its lowest points in recent memory. The anger we’re seeing from Canadians is understandable, and the reduction in Canadian travel to the U.S. is already having a measurable economic impact.
But our experience visiting Montréal and Québec City was very different from what our social media feeds might have led us to expect.
We didn’t encounter hostility. We didn’t feel unwelcome. We met pleasant people who were curious about where we were from, and several of them had their own stories about visiting Orlando.
Governments can argue. Countries can impose tariffs. Travelers can decide where they do—or don’t—want to spend their money.
But when people meet face-to-face, things are often much less confrontational than they appear online.
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