White House hits back at countries warning against U.S. travel

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to the changes in advisory ratings.

Apr 23, 2025 - 15:26

White House hits back at countries warning against U.S. travel

While both tourism industry executives and the U.S. government initially expected 2025 to be a banner year for international travel, arrivals to the U.S. dropped off dramatically amid the series of actions that the new Trump administration is taking to crack down on immigration and rupture longstanding ties with European allies.

Countries such as Canada, France, Portugal, New Zealand, Finland and Germany were among the nations to strengthen warnings for their citizens who may be traveling to the U.S. in the coming weeks.

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"Even a slight overstay of the visa upon entry or exit can lead to arrest, detention, and deportation upon entry or exit," the German Ministry writes in its new advisory. At the start of April, the Canadian government similarly told citizens to "expect scrutiny at ports of entry, including of electronic devices."

At an April 22 press conference at the White House, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to a reporter's question on how this dropoff in tourist dollars would affect U.S. industry. A report from Tourism Economics predicts that international travel to the U.S. will now fall by 15.2% in 2025 while conservative estimates pin total annual industry losses at $90 billion.

"I think most recognize the U.S. is a great place to do business, a beautiful place to visit, and they should come here because it is a much safer country than four years ago under the previous president," Leavitt said when asked on whether harsher-sounding advisories were a bad look and ultimately deter travelers from choosing the U.S.

High-profile news stories of detained travelers have been putting millions off travel to the U.S.
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Would you travel in these conditions? Stories of detentions deterring tourists

While the majority of the countries in question simply issued new advisories rather than the more drastic step of raising the official safety rating, high-profile news of detained German, British and Canadian travelers have also played their part in putting many off any planned or potential U.S. trips.

"The authorities in the U.S. set and enforce entry rules strictly," the United Kingdom's Foreign Office now explicitly states on its website. "You may be liable to arrest or detention if you break the rules."

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After Trump repeatedly called their country "the 51st state", the steepest dropoff in travel to the U.S. came from Canadians. Numbers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) show that border crossing from the country fell by 12.5% in February and 18% in March.

Travel from Germany is also down nearly 30% year-over-year from 2024 while visitors from Colombia and Spain have decreased by a respective 33% and 25%. On social media platforms such as Threads (META) , many European and Asian residents share stories of canceling trips both out of fear of border problems and out of solidarity with countries that Trump targeted with adversarial statements.

"International travel to the United States has plummeted in recent months following President Donald Trump’s return to office, with global tourists increasingly avoiding the country due to fears of detentions, deportations, political rhetoric, and heightened border scrutiny," Travel and Tour World wrote in a March report.