Comptroller: NY trade and tourism suffered under Trump's tariffs in 2025

Tariff policies and Trump's rhetoric aimed at Canada had dire consequences for New York's economy in 2025, state study says.

Excerpt from Larry Rulison, Times-Union, April 13, 2026

ALBANY — President Donald J. Trump’s aggressive tariff policies and rhetoric aimed at Canada, the state’s most important trading partner, had dire consequences for New York’s economy in 2025, according to a new study by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

The study, released earlier this month, found that Canadian travel to New York fell 21% in 2025, with 3.6 million fewer travelers coming into the state, while exports headed to Canada fell $3.8 billion.

The tariff policies caused exports to fall with nearly half of New York’s global trading partners and across more than two-thirds of all products New York exports, according to the report.

The impact has been harshest in the counties near the border, which rely heavily on trade and tourism with Canada. For instance, in the North Country, which includes the heavily visited Adirondack Mountains, the number of travel-related jobs dropped by 1.9%, while hotel and restaurant jobs fell 2.6%, the report found.

The report said that the average consumer in the U.S. paid $1,000 to $1,700 more for the things they bought in 2025 due to the tariffs on imports. Those tariffs totaled $264 billion in 2025, more than triple the amount of tariffs levied in 2024. 

In relative terms, the effective tariff rate on Americans, the tariff revenue collected as a percentage of imports, more than tripled in April 2025, when it shot up from 2.4% to 10% and then higher to 11.8% in November before falling back to slightly under 10% in December.

In short, nearly all facets of the New York economy have been negatively impacted by the Trump tariffs, DiNapoli’s report found, especially in regions like the North Country that rely heavily on Canadian trade and tourism for their livelihoods. Those North Country counties voted overwhelmingly for Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

“Federal policies are driving foreign travelers away and taking billions in tourism spending and harming our economy as exports substantially decline,” DiNapoli, a Democrat, said.

“New York is a top destination for tourists to the U.S., and policies that welcome and encourage international travel are needed to avoid damaging economic consequences.”

There was more troubling economic data included in DiNapoli’s report: During 2025, visits to both state and national parks in New York state dropped overall. Those visits are usually fueled in part by international visitors and Canadians.

There were 2.3 million fewer visitors to state parks in 2025, the comptroller’s report found. And there was an 18 percent drop in visits to national parks in New York state, although visits to Saratoga National Historical Park were up by 2,000 visitors in 2025. Visits to the iconic Statue of Liberty were down 4.6 percent, or 183,000 visitors, compared to 2024.

Photo courtesy of St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce