Trump Postpones Tariffs That Could Impact Travel

Many Canadians Less Likely to Visit United States

By Jonathan Trager

President Donald Trump on March 6 announced he has postponed 25% tariffs on most goods from Mexico and some imports from Canada for a month, measures that threatens to impact travel to the United States.

Imports from Mexico that comply with the 2020 USMCA trade pact would be excluded for a month from the tax, as would auto-related imports from Canada that comply with the trade deal.

“Most of the tariffs go on April the second,” Trump said in the Oval Office before signing the orders. “Right now, we have some temporary ones and small ones, relatively small, although it’s a lot of money having to do with Mexico and Canada.”

Despite the delay, the imposition of tariffs are likely to have some impact on the travel industry.

Steven A. Carvell, professor of Finance at the S.C. Johnson College of Business at Cornell University, said business travel will likely take the biggest hit first.

“This is going to have multiple rounds of impacts, and we are going to see business travel, group travel, corporate travel, decline as a result of it,” Carvell told USA Today. “There will be less cross-border travel and less demand for hotel room nights because of that. Group travel will be down because of that, meetings maybe.”

Carvell added it’s unlikely that tariffs will have a “noticeable, immediate impact” on hotel room prices or airfares but they still could have longer-term impacts.

News of the tariffs—as well as repeated Trump comments about annexing Canada as the 51st state— have offended many Canadians.

“The Trump Administration’s recent attacks on its northern neighbor have been met with confusion, frustration, and anger by many Canadians, some of whom are now abandoning their trips south and boycotting travel to the U.S. in protest,” according to an NPR report.

Catherine Prather, President of the U.S.-based National Tour Association, said she has heard reports from “dozens” of members about Canadian travelers cancelling tours to the United States, according to NPR.

A recent poll by the market research firm Leger found that nearly half of those surveyed said they were less likely to travel to the United States this year and are more likely to travel domestically instead.

Canadians are the largest group of foreign visitors to the United States.

The U.S. Travel Association has estimated that even a 10% reduction in Canadian visitation could cost the U.S. economy $2.1 billion and 14,000 jobs.