Trump Tanks US Tourism... Costs Businesses BILLIONS!

Added: 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]The impacts of the Trump presidency have truly been felt around the world for better or for worse and usually for worse. However, unfortunately, those effects are also being felt right here at home in a way that very few people are happy about.

[00:00:15]>> Commerce Department data shows international travel to the United States dropped in March. Visits from Canada and Western Europe were down year-over-year putting billions of dollars in spending at stake. And join us now Jeff Freeman, president and CEO of the US Travel Association. And And Jeff, we'll get into some of the details, but what is what's not uh You don't immediately understand that that exports, when we travel the US to Europe and and there's been no, you know, that's not down at all.

[00:00:47]That's probably up, I think. And that's it that's classified as an export. So, this is hurting this is hurting our trade imbalance that we're so worried about because we're not getting the Right? We're we're No, it's actually helping, isn't it?

[00:01:00]>> If we if we go back 10 years >> If we export Okay, that's helping. Yeah.

[00:01:03]>> I'm in 2015 we had a $50 travel trade surplus.

[00:01:07]>> Okay.

[00:01:08]>> Foreign travelers spending more in the United States than Americans were spending abroad. Today, we have a $50 travel trade deficit. So, we've had a $100 swing in 10 years and we really haven't gotten to the bottom of why aren't these travelers coming to the United States? What do we need to do to get their business? And right now, the hole that we're digging is a little bit deeper.

[00:01:26]>> Yes, what could possibly have happened since 2015 that made foreign travelers want to come here less? If only we could get to the bottom of this. We will dive into that in a bit, but apart from the fact that Trump's approval ratings are in the toilet and have been for a while, and apart from the fact that even his individual policies have low approval ratings, he is constantly fighting against the American people, taking our money for all kinds of things and then telling us that we're actually happy about it. And maybe that worked once upon a time, but it doesn't seem to be sticking these days like it used to. He insists that we are happy that he is using our tax dollars for a slush fund for criminals, but we have yet to be convinced. He tells us that we're excited to see Milli Vanilli and Bret Michaels perform at the White House at our nation's 250th anniversary, but we are not. I think it's safe to say. We're not happy about his ballroom, we're not happy about his war, we're not happy about his tariffs or his economy. We don't like his cabinet. We're not happy that he took Colbert off the air, and honestly, who is excited that Byron Allen is now in that time slot? A time slot that he just bought for himself because apparently he's a billionaire.

[00:02:39]Allegedly, there is some debate as to whether or not Byron Allen is actually a billionaire or not, but that's another story. But with everything Trump has done abroad, and it is a lot, people around the world are also not happy with Trump, and by extension, they are not happy with us. And I know that none of us here voted for him or supported his presidency, but millions of us did vote for him, and millions of us continue to support him. We all need to live with that cohort of Americans, and we need to understand that even once Trump is gone, whether from office or from this world, we have a lot of rebuilding to do as a nation. We don't even know who we are as a people anymore, and after 10 years of divisiveness and hateful rhetoric, it doesn't seem that collectively we are much wiser than we were before when it comes to recognizing propaganda, even when it is so blatantly there in front of us. So, naturally, plenty of international travelers and would-be American tourists are choosing to spend their time and money elsewhere right now. They don't like us. They don't trust us. They consistently see the absolute worst of us on their televisions, and while I'm sure they understand that there are plenty of the citizenry that oppose the Trump administration and MAGA, our country looks defunct as hell. We have ICE agents in the streets and they don't come across very well. They come across as hateful and stupid and emboldened and armed. Who wants to be around that absolute nightmare of a combination?

[00:04:07]They do think that we generally are stupid though, not just the ICE agents.

[00:04:11]We are a nation that watched January 6th happen on our televisions and then we re-elected the guy who incited the whole thing 4 years later. And now the loudest and dumbest amongst us are still vocally and publicly supporting him. Apart from that though, our nation does not function well. Our Supreme Court is corrupt and compromised. Our Congress is pointless. The opposition party cannot seem to accomplish anything much besides, you know, performing outrage.

[00:04:38]Okay, communicating outrage, that is my job. Their job is to actually do something about it. The Democrats have gotten a lot of points recently, for example, for calling Stephen Miller ugly, but it would be a lot more fun for everyone if they did that while actually protecting democracy and our Constitution and our institutions and our people. On top of everything, we are increasingly hostile towards anyone who seems a little bit different from a straight, white male baseline. We don't appear hospitable to other cultures or religions right now. We don't even look to be nice people, at least not from a foreign lens. And even if we appear to be nice, are we secretly supporting some really heinous things? Personally, I know plenty of people who do fall into that latter category. And even as a born and bred American, I'm uncomfortable around those people. Well, that's all conjecture, but here are the facts.

[00:05:29]Visitor numbers declined from several countries, including Germany, India, France, Australia, Chile, and China, but the largest drop came from Canada with far fewer Canadians traveling to the United States. Data from mobile tracking firm Cubic suggests Canadian travel to major US cities may have fallen by as much as 42% over the past year, far steeper than the official estimate of a 25% decline in border crossings. And anecdotally, I have heard this directly from several people in Canada. I also have a friend who runs a bed and breakfast in Upstate New York, and she has told me that she's seen far fewer Canadians over the past couple of seasons. So, why are they avoiding us?

[00:06:11]It is for all of the exact reasons that you already expect. Travelers say they are avoiding trips to the United States because of President Donald Trump's rhetoric, hardline policies, and the political fallout surrounding the war in Iran. Also, the Canadians don't like that we tried to annex them and started a trade war with them. Naturally, they're boycotting us, and who can blame them? Not to mention, we have made it increasingly, infinitely more expensive and more difficult for everyone in the world to travel, so it is a perfect storm of inhospitability. Even with FIFA upcoming, bookings are way, way down from where they were expected to be, to the point that FIFA had to give up thousands of rooms that they had on reserve across host cities. And with all of this, we really only have ourselves to blame. We have a lot of work to do as a nation, but even after 10 years of this, we don't seem to be any closer to getting our sanity back, at least not close enough. All right, that's it for me. If you got anything out of this, please like the video and subscribe to the channel for more. Thanks.