'Mind-boggling' drop hits as new data shows US massively shunned by travelers: expert

Add the travel industry to the growing list of economic casualties of President Donald Trump's policies, joining farmers and manufacturers as sectors bleeding cash under his trade wars and border crackdowns.

Geoff Freeman, president and CEO of the U.S. Travel Association, laid out the damage in blunt terms to Axios co-founder Jim VandeHei: even America's "closest allies" are refusing to visit. Despite the U.S. hosting the World Cup this summer, overseas travel still fell — the country is on pace to lose 2 million overseas visitors compared with last year, a drop that leaves visitation 20 percent below its 2019 peak.

"We're the only major country in the world losing visitation," Freeman told VandeHei. "It's mind-boggling."

The falloff is concentrated among traditional allies. Canada is down 23 percent over two years, while Germany and France have each dropped double digits year to date. Freeman said the exodus is "largely out of protest and fear" rather than economics, as travelers shun a country whose tariffs and immigration enforcement have made headlines abroad.

Meanwhile, China is "capturing the visitors America is losing by expanding visa-free entry," and Japan is riding the "cheap yen" and surging reputation to a long-term tourism boom.

The hit to travel — an industry that supports millions of U.S. jobs — lands alongside mounting anger from farmers squeezed by Trump's tariff fights and cut off from major agricultural buyers, and manufacturers still waiting for the factory jobs Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs promised but never delivered.