The Trump administration’s 25% tariff on Canadian goods is already affecting the conference and event industries.
“I have a client trying to cancel their leadership summit in Chicago, a client in the manufacturing industry, who is now planning it internally, and one client is shelving plans at a destination event in Mexico,” said Anh Nguyen, Anh Nguyen, the principal and co-founder’s collective collective committee of the principal and co-founder, based on Canada Canada Canada Canada Calgry.
A compelling event cancellation was Telefilm’s Canada House, the year for Austin’s South South (SXSW). The program collects Canadian film, technology and music fields in cyberspace to promote the country’s creative industries.
“Telefilm relies on partnerships to ensure financial viability. Unfortunately, due to the withdrawal of major financial partners, we have had to make a difficult decision to suspend the Canadian House of Representatives because we cannot maintain the same level of investment,” it said in a statement.
Egale Canada withdraws from UN activities
LGBTQ2S+ advocacy group Egale Canada is boycotting travel to the United States and will therefore not attend the 69th Annual Committee on the Status of Women (CSW68) (CSW68), the largest annual gathering on gender equality and women’s empowerment, held from March 10 to 21.
“The most important thing about this decision is the need to maintain our trans and non-binary personnel who will face dubious treatment at land and aviation borders, attend such events and be united with colleagues around the world who have experienced similar fears when they enter the United States.”
“This is also based on a unique situation of economic wars and threats to our nation’s sovereignty with Canadians and other countries. We cannot be very conscientious and engage in the process of evacuating organizations from American goods and services and then proceed to the United States.”
Travel could lose billions of dollars due to tariffs
U.S. Travel estimates that the potential impact of tariffs could result in a loss of $2.1 billion in travel spending, which is a 10% drop in overall inbound visits in Canada.
Canada is the main source of international tourists in the United States, with about 20.4 million visits last year.
Event Leaders Exchange (ELX) made an emergency virtual call last week after members expressed the need to talk about the impact of the current political landscape. This includes restrictions that some member companies in Canada have begun to impose on their travel to the United States
“As the political and cultural landscape continues to change, event leaders are facing new challenges. As an industry, we need to stand up and lead the power of advocating for events, so we won’t encounter similar situations as what happened during the economic crisis,” said Nicola Kastner, CEO of Elx.
Meetings mean Canadian business response
Conference means Business Canada (MMBC), an advocacy group for the Canadian conference and business events industry, has been engaged to Toronto-based PR and public affairs company Crestview Strategy to help browse government relations and strategic planning.
“Cross-border business travel is a crucial economic driver, but transferring international policies could put thousands of Canadian jobs at risk. We ask the federal government to act quickly to support our sector so that all countries see Canada as the first choice for international business events,” said Minto Schneider, MMBC President.
Schneider added that the number of U.S. attendees attending the meeting in Canada has decreased since the Trump administration’s policy was implemented.
Among them, an executive order was signed in late February and now requires government employees to attend the meeting in writing.
MMBC urges the Canadian government to increase its commitment to the International Conference Attraction Fund (ICAF), more than it plans to expire in 2027. Since its launch in 2024, ICAF is a project’s local Canadian program that has helped to obtain 21 international business events, with a direct economic impact of $122.2 million.
Many companies are paying close attention to this situation. Winnipeg-based IG Wealth Management is one of them. Angie Pfeifer, vice president of live and company event marketing, said concerns with participants about continuing the U.S. program, but so far, they are continuing the course.
