International Travel and Tariffs Top 2026 Policy Priorities

January 12, 2026

Industry advocacy group puts international travel, trade and tariffs at the top of its 2026 policy priority list.

The Exhibitions & Conferences Alliance (ECA)’s recently released 2026 Public Policy Agenda contains six main critical policy issue areas for the year — with trade, tariffs and international travel topping the list of federal and state policy priorities for the year ahead.

According to ECA, last year the meetings and events industry employed more than 2.6 million Americans, generated more than $400 billion in direct spending, and drove additional demand for restaurants, hotels, travel services, and Main Street commerce across all 50 states. But this industry is not immune to what Tommy Goodwin, ECA’s Executive Vice President, calls the “political affordability zeitgeist.” This makes trade and tariffs that affect affordability for the industry, its customers and its suppliers a top policy area to key in on this year, he adds. “Exhibitions and conferences are a very cost-effective way to market, and if you lose that advantage, that challenges the whole system.

“Between tariffs and international travel, 2026 is shaping up to be the year of international policy out of D.C.,” he added.

There have been some recent wins on the tariff front, including the delay on implementing an increased tariff on furniture — including that used at shows — until January 2027. But the one to watch right now is the Supreme Court’s ruling on the legality of Donald Trump’s emergency tariffs, expected to be announced early this year. Should the court rule the that administration was constitutionally allowed to use provisions under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to levy the tariffs, it could cost U.S. importers — including those who serve the meetings, events and hospitality industries — at least $2.3 trillion over the next 10 years. If the court rules the tariffs were imposed illegally, the administration likely will urge Congress to pass new laws to codify the tariffs originally imposed under IEEPA. “We would fight that,” said Goodwin.

Also on ECA’s tariff radar screen is the legally required review of the USMCA (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement), which replaced NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) in 2020. “We’re going to be working to enunciate the benefits of that agreement, because I think it would be very disadvantageous, both for the broader economy and the industry, if either of the three sides were to want to walk away from that agreement,” said Goodwin, noting that Canada is the biggest international feeder market for attendees and the second biggest feeder market for suppliers for U.S. meetings and event organizers. “There’s a widespread understanding within the business community that these agreements are a good thing, and we’re going to be fanning the embers of that agreement specifically and trade agreements more broadly in the coming year.”

On the international travel front, ECA also cites some recent wins. Around this time last year, there were around 90 embassies and consulates that had interview wait times of at least three months. It’s less than half that now, said Goodwin. “We lobbied a couple of years ago to get the State Department $50 million to address these backlogs, and it’s clearly paid dividends.”

However, the $250 “visa integrity fee” implemented in October 2025 to be levied on non-immigrant applicants from countries not in the Visa Waiver Program. The new fee has yet to be rolled out, and ECA, along with U.S. Travel, SISO, IAEE and PCMA, sent a letter recently calling on the administration to permanently shelve it. The idea behind the fee was to discourage visitors from overstaying their visas, but to universally apply it regardless of the overstay rate of the visitor’s country of origin “just doesn’t make sense,” said Goodwin. “It would make more sense to focus fees and enforcement efforts on countries that have high overstay rates.”

“2026 feels like an international fork in the road. We have some challenging things, like the visa fee, and some good news, like the wait times being down. We have the FIFA World Cup, the 250^th anniversary of America, and the Olympics coming in 2028 — and all of the shows in our industry. Our hope is, as we get closer to some of these big headline events, we’re going to see more push on the positive side,” said Goodwin.

But travel and trade are just two of the advocacy group’s priority list. ECA also will be paying a lot of attention to nonprofit tax issues, especially any efforts to revisit the exempt status of non-profits that were stripped out of the House tax reform bill year. Workforce development, sustainability and issues that impact the overall operating environment also are on ECA’s agenda (see the full agenda here).

“2026 presents a critical moment for our industry in Washington, D.C., and beyond,” said Fernando Fischer, Chair of the ECA Board of Directors and President, Americas for RX. “The policy decisions made this year will directly affect our collective ability to create new jobs, reduce economic uncertainty, safeguard affordability for our small businesses and those we serve, and strengthen U.S. competitiveness.”