China tells its people to 'be careful' traveling to the U.S.

The new advisory also warns of the "domestic security situation in the United States."

Apr 12, 2025 - 14:57

China tells its people to 'be careful' traveling to the U.S.

The trade war between China and the United States continues to escalate. After the Trump administration confirmed that imports from China would be tariffed at 145%, China hit back with a 125% rate on U.S. goods. The Chinese government has now issued new travel guidance for citizens.

The Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism is telling tourists to the U.S. to "fully assess the risks of traveling," while the Ministry of Education issued a similar warning for students thinking of studying in U.S. universities.

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'Assess the risks of traveling to the United States and be cautious'

A week after announcing the tariffs, Trump put out a number of Truth Social posts affronting China and threatening that it "will realize that the days of ripping off the U.S.A., and other Countries, is no longer sustainable or acceptable."

"Recently, due to the deterioration of China-U.S. economic and trade relations and the domestic security situation in the United States, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism reminds Chinese tourists to fully assess the risks of traveling to the United States and be cautious," said the April 9 advisory (in translation) that the Chinese government put out after Trump's post.

In the last two years, China has made it significantly easier for citizens of many foreign countries to visit.
Image source: Shutterstock

The education ministry has a similar warning urging "Chinese tourists to fully assess the risk of traveling to the United States, and to travel with caution."

This also comes at a time when a number of European countries as well as Canada have all updated their travel guidance for the U.S. to reflect Trump's immigration crackdown. In a number of high-profile cases, tourists seeking to enter the U.S. were detained at the border.

The official U.S. State Department travel advisory for China, in turn, currently remains at "exercise increased caution;" it was lowered from level three's "reconsider travel" at the end of Biden's administration after China took a number of its own steps to open up to American tourists.

Prior to tariff war, China and the U.S. were (slowly) opening up to reciprocal tourism

While the United States is not among the countries included in the country's pilot visa-free program, Americans can visit certain cities under China's 72/144-Hour Transit Policy and no longer need pre-booked plane tickets and hotel reservations to apply for a longer visa.

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When former president Joseph Biden lowered the travel advisory in December 2024, the move was heavily criticized by a number of Republican lawmakers who pushed for the kind of stance the current Trump administration is taking toward the country. The level two advisory puts China on the same safety rating as countries such as France, the United Kingdom, and Mexico, although they have the higher rating for different reasons —risk of terrorist attacks and heightened crime rates.

John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), a member of the House Select Committee on China, put out a statement saying that the rating should only come down when China "ends its practice of arbitrarily detaining American citizens or placing exit bans on them."

The current advisory warns American travelers to "exercise increased caution when traveling to Mainland China due to arbitrary enforcement of local laws, including in relation to exit bans."