Montana-Canada Border Traffic Falls Sharply in 2025

Passenger and freight traffic across Montana’s northern border fell sharply in the first 11 months of 2025, with commercial freight seeing the sharpest decline from a for comparable periods in at least 30 years. The number of inbound people crossing also saw the steepest year-over-year percentage declines of recent decades outside of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Data from the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics indicates that full shipping container crossings into Montana for the first 11 months of the year fell 21% from its 30-year peak in 2024. Over the same period, individual crossings dropped 29%. The drop comes after years of sharp increases in freight and individual crossings coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Economy and tourism experts interviewed by MTFP pointed to President Donald Trump’s on-again, off-again tariff battle with Canada as a likely explanation for the drop.