Some Europeans Reconsider Trips to US in Protest Against Trump

His explosive meeting with Ukrainian leader, upending of European alliance among factors

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LONDON/NEW YORK - Danish traveler Kennet Brask loved his fishing trip to Florida in 2023 and was planning to return in 2025. But after watching US President Donald Trump's explosive meeting with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky in the White House, he called it off.

"When I saw this meeting, I told myself, 'I'm never going to go to the United States as long as Mr Trump is the president there,' Mr Brask told Reuters, adding that Mr Trump was "so rude" and did not behave like a grown-up.

Instead, he will head to Mexico.

Mr Brask is one of a number of Danes, Germans and, more broadly, Europeans who are reconsidering travel plans as a result of Mr Trump's actions, according to five travel agents across the continent.

In just two months, Mr Trump has upended America's longstanding alliance with Europe, suggested annexing Greenland, launched a global trade war, and issued orders that focus on stricter border policy, tighter visa vetting procedures and a crackdown on undocumented migrants in the US.

Europeans splashed US$155 billion (S$207.5 billion) on travel to the US in 2023, according to European Union figures, while transatlantic travel has bolstered earnings for airlines such as British Airways over recent quarters.