As Franck Verhaeghe and two friends planned a March trip to Mexico City, they plotted out not only where they would stay and which museums they would visit but also the language they would speak: French. “It’s not that I think it’s unsafe for Americans,” said Mr. Verhaeghe, 65, who lives in California, but “I can imagine people there aren’t very happy with us. So my friends and I decided that on this trip, we would all just speak French to each other.”
Two months into his second term, President Trump has set off panic in Europe about the potential collapse of alliances; inspired boycotts of American products in Canada; heightened tensions between Denmark and Greenland over the island’s independence; and prompted protests in Istanbul and Panama over the possibility of U.S. territorial expansion.
His proposals are also making some Americans reconsider their travel plans.
Since the inauguration, some agencies are noticing a drop in sales for international travel by Americans. Tour operators are fielding inquiries from customers concerned about how they will be received abroad. The risk management company Global Rescue recently conducted a survey that found that 72 percent of “experienced” U.S. travelers expected Americans to be less welcome abroad this year.
The nervousness does not seem to have translated into widespread cancellations, but social media and travel forums are filled with Americans asking variations of “Will they hate us?”
Some people, including Mr. Verhaeghe, who is traveling to Mexico using his second, European, passport, are adjusting their behavior. Christine Bauer, a New Hampshire retiree who is planning a trip to France, asked travelers on a Rick Steves’ Europe forum for insight into how the French were responding to American foreign policy changes. A few days later, she grew more worried when “Trump and Musk began insulting NATO and allied countries.” She and her husband haven’t made any changes “at least for now,” but they are “hoping that travel doesn’t become more unsafe.”
Vicci Jaffe, 68, has second thoughts about an excursion to Berlin this fall. Her concern stems not only from the rise of the far right in Germany, but also from political changes at home. “How will I be regarded while in Berlin?” she asked. “At the very least, I am embarrassed, but also now afraid of retribution or violence.”
Some people, like Mr. Verhaeghe, are traveling to Mexico, planning to stay in accommodations where they won’t be mistaken for Americans. Cheryl Carlson, 63, a Chicago educator, plans to reveal her nationality ahead of time to the owners of the accommodations she and her husband will be staying in during a trip to Canada “to make sure our presence would not cause a small business to feel uncomfortable hosting us.” Peter Serkian, 60, who travels to Canada twice a month from Farmington Hills, Mich., pays in Canadian dollars, not U.S. dollars. “I try to hide that I am an American,” he said.
For others, the anxiety is taking its toll. Cameron Hewitt, content and editorial director for Rick Steves’ Europe, has seen a dip in guidebook sales, “literally starting the day of the inauguration,” he said.
Lisa Wirth, an owner of Ataxito, which offers tours to Oaxaca, Mexico, said that some prospective guests are feeling spooked. “We had several American travelers decide to cancel our February weeklong tour, either because the travel partners they had planned on traveling with backed out due to concerns regarding safety in Mexico or because the current administration and their anxiety around it caused them to pause any trip decisions in the short term.”
Jack Ezon, founder of Embark Beyond, a New York-based luxury travel company, had a client cancel a trip to Mexico. “They were doing a birthday-party trip and had booked out the whole hotel,” he said. “But this was right after the whole tariff thing, and their security team said, ‘Don’t go, there’s anti-American sentiment, it’s going to be too dangerous.'”
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