Donald Trump’s presidency is deterring Canadians from visiting the U.S., and it’s hurting the American tourism industry. Trump has said he will impose new tariffs on Canada, and he has repeatedly said that he wants Canada to be the “51st state.” The drop in tourism is even affecting Tennessee, WKRN reported last week.
The new tariffs were “entirely unjustified." said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trump has delayed 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum until March.
And Canadians are worried about what Trump could mean by saying he wants to make Canada a state. “What if the U.S. invaded Canada?” asks the CBC.
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Canadian Neil Anderson had planned a trip to Nashville and Memphis, but told WKRN he decided to go to Mexico instead.
“I don’t like, politically, what’s going on,” he said. “They’re attacking my country.”
“Now is also the time to choose Canada. There are many ways for you to do your part,” Trudeau said earlier this month. “It might mean changing your summer vacation plans to stay here in Canada and explore the many national and provincial parks, historical sites, and tourist destinations our great country has to offer.”
“There is a big movement at home to buy Canadian, to travel in Canada, and do business within Canada,” Vancouver resident Sheldon Mishra said, according to a similar report from Hawaiian station KHON.
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“On my way out of Vancouver, when I went to go through customs, there was no line of people waiting to enter the U.S. customs,” said Saskatchewan resident Jennifer Hickey, who flew into Honolulu.
“We actually saw that [Canadians] have an immediate impact on travel to the United States through our organization,” Travel Alliance Partnership CEO Nicole Mahoney told WKRN. “We have members who are tour operators and travel providers who sell trips to Canadians into the U.S., and one of our tour operators told us immediately she lost about 30% of her business trips that she had already booked to the U.S.”
Canadians spend more than $20 billion a year in the U.S. with 140,000 American jobs relying on them, according to the U.S. Travel Association.
“Mahoney believes this trend of canceled trips to the U.S. could continue if relations with Canada don’t improve,” writes WKRN’s Kenley Hargett.
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