Trade war | Business trips canceled for fear

Canadians cancel business trips, withdraw from conferences and avoid making reservations in the United States, while anger at President Donald Trump strikes the business sector.

After the threats of customs duties and the mockery linked to the annexation of Canada, it was the information concerning arrested foreigners while they were trying to enter the United States who led Oscar Acosta to cancel his trips to three business congresses in the south of the border.

He was “not discouraged until last month”, at a time when the CEO of the technological sector learned the history of the 35-year-old Canadian Canadian entrepreneur Jasmine Mooney, who was held for 12 days after presenting a new request for a work visa on the American border in San Diego, then prohibited from stay in the United States for five years.

“It scared me,” said Acosta, who directs Body M3Canix, a young Ottawa company that manufactures physical condition monitoring for extreme environments.

“Being myself an entrepreneur and from a visible minority, because I am of Hispanic origin, would I not find myself in a situation similar to that of this lady? »»

Mr. Acosta is not the only one to have this reflection.

At Flight Center Travel Group Canada, air affairs travel between the two countries decreased by almost 40 % in February compared to the previous year, due to a sharp increase in canceled projects, Director Chris Lynes said.

“We immediately noted an increase in the cancellations of conferences that were to be held in the United States,” he said, adding that the canceled reservations had reached a peak two months ago.

“People were very worried about traveling to the United States due to anger towards the United States government. »»

Companies that have ended their trips, despite potential penalties or loss of deposits, cover sectors ranging from banks and manufacturing insurance.

“One of our banking customers has canceled six programs in the United States,” said Lynes. The destinations included New York, Dallas and Washington, but especially Las Vegas.

Mr. Lynes’ travel agency said to its employees that it understood if they felt uncomfortable to cross the border to attend a business event in Los Angeles next summer.

“You can belong to a targeted group. You can have a double passport, or a visa. There are many who do not want to travel because they do not feel confident and safe, “said Lynes.

A long -term trend

Cancellations will extend until 2027, according to experts. And corporate events to come without fixed destination could take place in Canada, Mexico or elsewhere rather than in the United States.

While a wide wave of economic patriotism has manifested in response to threats and realities of customs duties, as well as the devaluing jokes of President Trump, who called Canada as 51^e State and who said that former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was a “governor”, companies were among those who were most likely to feel the effects of a trade war.

However, the negative reaction was not universal, causing divisions within certain organizations, divergent regarding the holding of corporate pensions, and mixed feelings among the employees.

Some companies maintain rallies, even if potential participants are reluctant to this perspective.

A conference by Royal Lepage planned in Nashville, Tennessee in September will take place, because “the funds are already spent,” the director general Phil soper told staff, in an internal note consulted by the Canadian press. The message underlined uncertainty as to the status of the conference and the possibility that certain agents make the “difficult decision” not to attend.

“The financial commitments to organize the event were made long before the current political context, and cancel it now would only harm our own network, and not to Trump or the American economy,” he said in the note of April 10.

A general decrease in travel

The drop in business trips reflects a more general decline in trips to the United States.

According to Statistics Canada, Canadians’ return by car trips dropped by 32 % compared to last year last month. Aircraft trips from Canadian residents on the return from the United States to 13.5 %.

At the same time, the freezing of budgets and presidential decrees in the United States have contributed to braking interior travel in the United States, and sometimes in Canada.

At the end of February, Trump targeted the trips of federal officials, ordering government agencies to prohibit travel without written justification. Travel is also subject to new declaration requirements.

“This meant that participants in conferences in Canada, especially civil servants, could not come for lack of a travel budget,” said Minto Schneider, chairman of the Meetings Mean Business Canada, an interest defense group.