With summer’s busy travel season underway and many travelers finalizing their plans for hotels, flights, tours, and restaurants, some also are considering an aspect of being abroad they may have not given much thought to before: how to handle political discussions—and potentially anti-American sentiment—amid shifting global perceptions of the United States during Donald Trump’s second presidential term.
Lindsey Hall, who travels extensively outside the United States, including in Colombia and Europe, has had plenty of practice doing just that since Trump took office again in January. Originally from Texas and a self-described “nomad van lifer PR gal,” Hall says she’s questioned by locals and fellow travelers “about my feelings on my country a hell of a lot more than I ever was before.”
“Lots of the ‘Ohhh, American you say? Trump!’ exclamations, or like raised eyebrows,” says Hall, who has clients in both the travel and mental health industries.
As the Trump administration continues to make headlines for its hard-line policies—in just six months, widespread tariffs, threats to annex Canada and Greenland, and criticism of ally nations, including those in the European Union, have been met with considerable backlash—more American travelers are grappling with how to handle increased scrutiny as de facto representatives of the country. Most recently, President Trump announced a sweeping travel ban that prohibits or restricts entry to the United States for citizens of 19 countries, echoing similar legislation he enacted in 2017 that, like the latest ban, was heavily criticized.
Hall says she’s been grateful to have not yet faced any direct hostility or retaliation while traveling abroad—although she’s more aware than ever of the possibility. She’s also discovered that being up front and honest, not hiding the fact that she’s from the USA and opposes the current administration, has proved an effective strategy so far for easing any possible tensions.
“There’s always this moment when Trump or our politics are inevitably brought up, and there’s this pause I feel as they gauge my reaction,” she explains. “I usually just roll my eyes and say something like ‘Yeah, not our finest hour.’ I’ve found that as soon as Europeans or Colombians know you’re not on the Trump side of history, they’re just as friendly and accepting as always.”
Is anti-American sentiment on the rise?
Anti-American sentiment is on the rise in many destinations—and especially in Europe. According to recent data from YouGov, a British market research and data analytics firm, “European favorability of the USA” across seven major European countries has experienced a notable drop since Trump took office again, falling between 6 and 28 percentage points. The report states that opinion toward the U.S. is lowest in Denmark—not surprising, since Greenland, which Trump has vowed to annex, is an autonomous territory of the country.
Canadians, meanwhile, are among the travelers boycotting visits to the U.S., while several European countries have issued their own advisories for citizens planning to travel to the United States.
All of which naturally causes some Americans to worry about the reception they’ll receive while abroad. However, Huw Owen, cofounder of TravelLocal, a U.K.-based tour operator, notes that Americans have developed a solid reputation as individuals, distinct from the actions of their political leaders.
“As a traveler it can be hard to read the global mood clearly, but the reality is that Americans are well-liked abroad,” Owen explains. “That doesn’t change overnight. The cultural understanding of Americans as generous, open, and curious is deeply embedded across the world. It will take more than newspaper headlines to shift that.”
Owen notes that his company has seen “a little” hesitation and wariness among U.S. clients to book trips abroad but “not as much as you would imagine. Perhaps the political weather is splitting the market a bit. A few people become more cautious, but many others double down on getting away from it all.”
Audrey Scott is a Berlin-based sustainable tourism expert who, like Hall, has yet to encounter backlash while traveling. Scott estimates she and her husband, both from the U.S., have visited approximately 115 countries for both leisure and business throughout their life. (The couple run a sustainable tourism consulting firm called Uncornered Market, which they founded in 2007.) She tells Afar that while people are not afraid to share their criticisms of the U.S. president and his policies, she’s also noticed in most destinations that they can establish “a separation of the actions of the government versus the actions of the people, or a separation between politics and the actual people from that place.”
According to Scott, “Around the world, there are many countries and many people who don’t like their government and don’t feel that their government represents them. So I think they have that perspective of, there is this separation.”
But not always. Just ask Jill Schildhouse, a Phoenix-based travel journalist who said she’s faced criticism for being from the U.S. while traveling several times. The first instance occurred in Australia in early November 2024, when Schildhouse and two other American journalists were discussing the election over dinner and a woman walked up to their table, cursed them, and told them to go home.
“We kept our conversation so neutral, and the fact that she was brazen enough to just stand up and approach us for no reason, and then attack us with vulgar language, was absolutely shocking,” Schildhouse says. “And that was my first moment where I was like, ‘Oh, wow. People do not like Americans right now.’”
Four months later, while Schildhouse was on a cruise in Japan with her best friend, a dual U.S.-Canadian citizen, fellow cruisers several times questioned how the two could be friends.
“It got less shocking as it continued to happen,” Schildhouse recalls. “One time, we just looked at each other, and we looked at the lady who asked and laughed, and we were like, ‘Well, we’ve had 15 years of friendship. There’s no reason to stop now.’”
“Zero obligation to engage”
Schildhouse says that while those incidents have been unpleasant, they have in no way dampened her passion for seeing the world. “I’m already booked on several cruises this summer that will visit nine countries in Europe, because I’d never let people like that stop me from traveling,” she says.
Manhattan-based etiquette expert Nick Leighton also reminds travelers that while “meeting people and sharing experiences is what travel is all about,” they can choose to opt out of interactions that feel hostile or too invasive.
“If someone wants to ask questions about politics and you’re game, then feel free to have a polite and respectful conversation about it,” says Leighton, who’s cofounder of the etiquette podcast Were You Raised by Wolves? “Ditto if they support what’s happening in the United States and you don’t. But you are also under zero obligation to engage.”
