Philly tourism officials are ‘anxious’ amid Trump’s tariffs and rift with Canada

When the chief executives of a couple hundred tourism marketing organizations from around the world convened for an annual summit this past week in Savannah, Ga., they addressed the elephant in the room — President Donald Trump’s taunting of Canada.

During a panel discussion, a Canadian tourism official reflected on the country’s strained relationship with the United States, its longtime ally, amid Trump’s talk of annexation and imposition of steep tariffs on imports from America’s northern neighbor.

“It was gut-wrenching to hear, you know, the emotion of, ‘We’re your closest trading partner. We are family. We are your brother, your sister,‘” Gregg Caren, the president and CEO of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, recounted in an interview. At issue is not just the frayed alliance but also what that means for tourism in Philadelphia, which attracted 535,000 Canadians last year.

The episode underscores how the U.S. tourism industry — which headed into 2025 anticipating more growth as it continues to rebound from the pandemic — is now bracing for potential fallout from a global trade war and the Trump administration’s hostile rhetoric toward traditional allies like Canada and the European Union.

The uncertainty comes as Philadelphia prepares to host several big events in 2026, including World Cup matches and the nation’s 250th anniversary festivities. About 80,000 people work in tourism and hospitality in Philadelphia, according to the bureau, and 1.2 million international visitors generated $1.2 billion in total economic impact last year.

About 45% of those tourists were Canadian, by far the most from any single country. They might not come back this year.

» READ MORE: Motorcycles, coffee, chocolate: The Pa. products caught in Trump’s trade war with Canada

Flight bookings from Canada to the United States are down 70% compared to the same period last year, according to a March 26 analysis by OAG, an aviation data and analytics firm.

And overall international travel to the U.S. is estimated to decline 5% in 2025 in the event of an expanded trade war, according to a February report by Tourism Economics, compared to a 9% increase the research firm had anticipated absent broad-based tariffs. That would reduce tourist spending by $18 billion, the firm said.

The Trump administration’s “polarizing” policies and rhetoric — including its “perceived recent alignment with Russia” in that country’s war of aggression against Ukraine — will negatively impact international tourists’ sentiment toward the United States, economist Andrew Turner wrote in the report. Economic effects from the trade war will also reduce travel, as tariffs could increase inflation and induce recessions in Canada and Mexico, he said.

Domestic tourism may also take a hit, as tariffs on imported goods raise consumer prices and leave Americans with less disposable income. The Federal Reserve on March 19 cut its U.S. growth forecast and projected higher inflation, citing Trump’s tariffs as a factor.

Airlines have trimmed their revenue forecasts, with American Airlines pointing to “increasing macroeconomic uncertainty” and “softness in domestic leisure.”

The Philadelphia region in 2023 welcomed 43.9 million domestic visitors, who spent $7.8 billion here, according to Visit Philadelphia, another tourism marketing agency.

“We’re like a lot of other industries in that we’re kind of watching this and trying to stay positive,” Caren said. “But we’re all anxious.”

Trump says protectionist measures are needed to boost domestic manufacturing and create jobs.

In early March he slapped 25% tariffs on almost all imports from Canada and Mexico — notwithstanding a free-trade agreement he signed with those countries in his first term — then paused those taxes on some goods such as cars. His targeting of steel and aluminum products also reverberated in Canada, which is a major supplier of those metals to the U.S.

» READ MORE: Pa. dairy farms produce a billion gallons of milk per year. As tariff wars rage, the cows could be stuck in the middle.

The president escalated matters this past week, saying on Wednesday that he would impose 25% tariffs on all automotive imports. And he’s pledged a new round of “reciprocal” levies on goods from countries around the world starting April 2 — which Trump has dubbed “Liberation Day.”

Canada could avoid all of this economic pain, Trump has insisted on social media, if the country simply agrees to “become our cherished Fifty First State.”

“This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear,” he wrote on March 11, adding that Canadians would enjoy lower taxes and better security. “And your brilliant anthem, ‘O Canada,’ will continue to play, but now representing a GREAT and POWERFUL STATE within the greatest Nation that the World has ever seen!”

Canada has retaliated with its own tariffs on a range of U.S. goods — and taken other steps to register its discontent.

Provincial governments have stopped buying American alcohol, leaving empty shelves at liquor stores. Hockey fans in Montreal booed during the U.S. national anthem at a match between America and Canada. And the government has encouraged citizens to “choose Canada” for summer vacations.

“The old relationship we had with the United States based on deepening integration of our economies and tight security and military cooperation is over,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday.

Canadians appear to have taken note.

A business delegation from Canada recently canceled a trip to Philly, said Lauren Swartz, CEO of the nonprofit World Affairs Council of Philadelphia. “They said, ‘Now is not the right time to come visit you, friends,‘” she said.

Likewise, Caren, of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, said Canadian bus tours that typically travel up and down the I-95 corridor have “evaporated.”

“They’re just literally canceling them,” he said. “Either customers aren’t buying them, or the tour operators themselves are saying we’re not even going to try and sell it in the first place.”

Beyond the tension with Canada, officials are also watching how Europeans respond to the Trump administration’s hectoring of the continent’s political leaders.

Vice President JD Vance blasted government leaders over migration and free speech issues during a February speech in Munich ahead of Germany’s national elections. And in a leaked chat about a military operation that ricocheted around the internet and foreign capitals this past week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth expressed his “loathing of European freeloading.”

Tourism marketers in Philadelphia — which attracts visitors from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and other European countries — are trying to set a different tone.

“We’re leaning in on who we are as a city,” Caren said. “You know, we are the city of brotherly love, we are the city of inclusion, and we are a city that leans on diversity, and we especially lean on that when we’re trying to attract meetings, conventions, and tourists from around the world.”