On the night of the 2024 presidential election, Ken James, a retired engineer from Calgary, Alberta, was at his second home in Palm Springs, Calif., watching with dismay as the results rolled in.
Mr. James, 68, called his wife back in Calgary. “If he gets back in, I’m selling,” he recalled her saying of Donald Trump.
Mr. James is among hundreds of thousands of Canadians, many of them snowbirds, who each year flock to Palm Springs, a sunbaked resort city about 110 miles east of Los Angeles that is known for its midcentury architecture, otherworldly desert and art scene. For nearly five months a year, when temperatures are often below freezing in Calgary, Mr. James and his wife spend languid days by the pool, hike sweeping canyons and enjoy live music beneath the stars at the local saloon.
But in recent months — as President Trump has announced a 25 percent tariff on certain Canadian goods and threatened the nation’s sovereignty — they and other Canadians are reconsidering their future in Palm Springs. The trend is part of a broader slump in tourism as international travelers say they feel unwelcome in the United States.
In Palm Springs, some are selling or abandoning plans to buy vacation homes. Others are canceling trips or cutting their winter visits short.
“I’m listening very carefully to Trump talking about how he’s going to take control for a third term, which means you’re going to have a dictatorship,” Mr. James said. In that case, he added, “I have no interest to live here.”
On Wednesday, in response to a question about the decline in international tourism to the United States, President Trump said, “It’s not a big deal.”
In downtown Palm Springs, where red banners declaring the city’s love for Canadians hang from lampposts outside shops selling broad-brimmed hats, date shakes and crystals, some business owners said that their sales had slowed and that they worried about what was to come.
“It would affect my bottom line,” said Sheila Christenson, who owns the clothing store Lush Couture. She added that she welcomed her Canadian customers and told them, “We’re sorry about what’s going on; that it’s not what we choose.”
One postal shop said that during the peak snowbird season, about 20 percent of its business comes from Canadians, and that this year, about a month earlier than usual, some customers had already begun sending home extra clothing, mementos and golf clubs. Another man who runs private airport-ride, pet-sitting and house-checking services said that some of his Canadian clients had told him they may not return. Dennis Costa, the owner of an airline-themed bar, said that his business relied on tourists, many of whom are Canadian. “I’m a little scared, really,” he said.
Last month, the number of Canadians entering California dropped by more than 15 percent compared with 2024, according to the Commerce Department. Two Canadian airlines recently slashed flights to Palm Springs, citing the drop in demand.
Their absence could have serious economic consequences: According to the U.S. Travel Association, a 10 percent drop in Canadian visitors could cost the country more than $2 billion and 14,000 jobs.
In Palm Springs, a city of about 45,000 people, the shift would feel pronounced.
“I get it,” Mayor Ron deHarte of Palm Springs said in an interview. He added, “Why would anybody want to come right now?”
The City of Palm Springs, a liberal outpost and a haven for the L.G.B.T.Q. community, has made efforts to embrace Canadian visitors. Last month, Mayor deHarte posted a video to social media addressed to Canadians. “Please know you are welcome and appreciated here,” he says, “despite what the government does.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has also started a campaign to lure back Canadians. “It’s the ultimate playground, 2,000 miles from Washington and a world away in mind-set,” he said in a video posted on social media this month.
Still, many have vowed not to come to the United States.
“I’m not mad at California, but I do feel that right now it’s not a good time for Canadians to be in the U.S.A.,” said Patti Bacchus, a Canadian who has been to Palm Springs and the surrounding region dozens of times, including last month. She has since decided not to return. “We do have a financial impact,” she said, adding, “that is a way we can exert some resistance to what is happening.”
Some who do visit feel conflicted.
Karen Barclay, 53, had come from Vancouver to attend the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival nearby. She said she and her friends had felt guilty and “were 50-50 on it.” But because they so rarely see each other, she said, they ultimately decided to go.
And to Rebecca Wu, 27, who was returning to Toronto from the same festival, the welcoming banners felt a little glib. “It was kind of like them trying to say, ‘We’re very different than everyone else,’” Ms. Wu said. “You don’t have to be so outwardly apologetic.”
Many choose Palm Springs over other snowbird destinations, such as Florida, for its left-leaning politics.
Dustin Pilcher, who works at a boutique resort, said that a friend from Calgary nearly backed out of visiting him but changed his mind: “We’re gay, and he’s like, ‘Well, I’ll come support my gay friends; the gay businesses, and the gay people,’” Mr. Pilcher said while standing beneath the city’s 26-foot statue of Marilyn Monroe.
The absence is already having ripple effects on the Palm Springs region, where, according to one analysis, Canadian visitors in 2017 generated more than $300 million in revenue and more than 2,000 jobs. In the city and surrounding Coachella Valley, they own about 7 percent of homes. Sheri Dettman, a real estate agent, said six of her clients selling their properties were Canadian, and all had cited the political climate in the United States as a reason. About a dozen other Canadian buyers, she added, had gotten cold feet in recent months.
One of the sellers said that while he and his wife had planned to eventually sell their home in La Quinta, about 20 miles southeast of Palm Springs, the tariffs and other attacks on Canadians accelerated their decision. “It really drove it home that we needed to support our own economy, not support the economy of United States,” said the seller, Malcolm, who asked to be identified only by first name because he feared retribution at the border.
Though he identifies as a conservative, he said that he planned to vote liberal for the first time in the upcoming federal election in Canada on Monday. He added, “The leader of the conservatives — there’s too many parallels to the leader in the United States.”
Though Mr. James, the snowbird, has not in the past been overtly patriotic, he decided to buy a Canadian flag and stick it to an eave over his front door, where it billows in the hot wind above an ocotillo. His wife has also begun wearing a baseball cap commemorating the Canadian Centennial on her hikes.
“Virtually no one goes by without comment,” Mr. James said as he sat barefoot on his patio. The only sounds were the drone of a hummingbird’s wings and the hum of a nearby pool pump.
Though he and his wife love Palm Springs, Mr. James said that if the midterm elections don’t wrest some power from the Trump administration, they will weigh selling the home and moving someplace else.
“I’ve got a son in Thailand,” he said, “and he doesn’t deal with any of this stuff.”
