There have been several instances that Louisiana Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser has warned that the escalating trade fight between the United States and Canada is impacting not only the national economy, but also increasingly the state economy. As Nussenger pointed out, the effects of the tarrifs are impacting Louisiana’s economy, because Louisiana depends on Canadians for resources that directly impact economic activity in the state.
Speaking Tuesday on WWL host Newell Normand’s show, Nungesser discussed the effect tariffs and the increasingly hostile rhetoric toward Canada have had on Louisiana tourism and the businesses that depend on it. His concerns are especially relevant in New Orleans, where visitor spending supports hotels, restaurants, bars, music venues, tour companies, retailers and thousands of other businesses and workers.
Nungesser made a similar point just a day earlier in an interview with WWL’s Tommy Tucker. Canada accounts for roughly 40 percent of Louisiana’s international tourism market, he said, and the state has struggled to win some of those visitors back since President Donald Trump began talking about Canada becoming the 51st state.
“We’ve been struggling to get our market back in Canada ever since the President [said he] wanted to make it the 51st state,” Nungesser said. He added that Louisiana had begun making some progress, but each new fight over tariffs makes that job harder. “Every time these tariffs come up, we feel like that’s going to prolong the Canadian market coming back as strong as it was.”
There is a lot of money behind those numbers. Canada is Louisiana’s largest international tourism market. In 2024, an estimated 185,000 Canadians visited the state and spent nearly $194 million while they were here, according to the Louisiana Office of Tourism.
For New Orleans, the issue hits particularly close to home. The city welcomed 19.46 million visitors in 2025, and they spent approximately $10.8 billion. Tourism and hospitality support more than 85,000 jobs and careers in the New Orleans economy. That spending also produces tax revenue that helps fund infrastructure, transportation, public safety and other services.
Although Canadians make up a fraction of New Orleans’ overall visitor count, it still represents a meaningful drop in one of Louisiana’s most important foreign markets adds up quickly. Someone who decides against a New Orleans trip might otherwise have stayed several nights, eaten out multiple times, visited a museum or attraction, gone to hear live music and spent money in local shops. When we account for thousands of travelers, the effect starts showing up in businesses all over the city.
Nungesser has been trying to reverse that trend. Last September, he led a Louisiana tourism delegation to Toronto, Montréal and Québec City to meet with tourism officials, tour operators and media. Louisiana tourism officials acknowledged during that effort that trade tensions were already contributing to a decline in Canadian travel to the state.
The problem now is that the trade dispute has become considerably more serious.
Trump’s new 50 percent tariffs on scores of Canadian imports took effect Saturday, August 22. They cover about 5 percent of Canada’s annual exports to the United States, roughly US$20 billion in goods. The list stretches from agricultural products to wine, cement, clothing, furniture and other manufactured and consumer goods. Some products that had previously received protection under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement are also affected.
Canada responded Tuesday by announcing retaliatory tariffs that will take effect September 8. The Canadian government says tariffs of 15, 25 and 50 percent will be placed on C$27.6 billion worth of American goods, including steel, dairy products, appliances, agricultural equipment, electronics, pulp and paper, fish and seafood.
Those policies can reach Louisiana businesses in several different ways.
One is through the cost of goods coming into the United States. American companies importing products covered by the tariffs have to pay the additional duty. They can absorb some of that cost, search for another supplier or pass some of it along. The result will vary from one industry and product to another, but a 50 percent tariff leaves businesses with a substantial new cost to account for.
Cement offers a straightforward example because it is included among the Canadian products affected by the latest tariffs. If imported material becomes more expensive, that matters to contractors and developers buying it. Eventually some of that cost can show up in bids for new construction or renovation. In a city already wrestling with housing affordability, infrastructure needs and the expense of maintaining aging buildings, higher material costs are not an abstract concern.
The same basic pressure can reach retailers, restaurants and other small businesses buying imported products or equipment. Many small businesses operate on thin margins and do not have the purchasing power of large corporations. A relatively modest change in the cost of supplies can force a choice between accepting a smaller profit or charging customers more.
Louisiana also has to consider what happens when Canada answers U.S. tariffs with tariffs of its own. American goods become more expensive for Canadian buyers, which can make life harder for companies trying to sell into that market. That matters in a state whose economy is tied closely to ports, agriculture, seafood, energy and manufacturing. The effects of a trade fight can travel well beyond whichever industries were at the center of the original dispute.
None of this means tariffs are automatically bad for Louisiana, and Nungesser himself has made that distinction.
When the Trump administration imposed tariffs last year that made imported seafood from major foreign suppliers more expensive, Louisiana shrimpers welcomed the move. Domestic shrimp producers have struggled for years to compete with cheaper imports. Nungesser called those tariffs “good news for the Louisiana shrimping industry” and said the state would continue pushing for stronger regulation and inspection of foreign seafood.
That is an important part of the discussion because there are Louisiana industries that can benefit when tariffs make foreign competitors more expensive. A shrimper trying to compete with low-cost imported shrimp sees the policy very differently from a contractor paying more for building materials or a restaurant dealing with rising food and equipment costs.
What matters is what Louisiana gains from a particular tariff and what it gives up in return.
A policy that helps local producers compete against cheaper imports can provide a real benefit. But when the same broader trade fight raises costs for other businesses, triggers retaliation against American goods and discourages visitors from coming here, those losses belong in the calculation too.
Tourism presents its own problem because there is no substitute supplier to call when Canadian travelers stay home. Louisiana can market itself aggressively, but it cannot make people cross the border and come here. If enough Canadians decide they would rather vacation somewhere else, businesses in New Orleans and elsewhere in the state lose that spending.
The tone of the political relationship matters for that reason. Nungesser has said Canadian travel agents and travelers were direct with Louisiana officials about why some of them were staying away. He told Tucker that some Canadians remained adamant about avoiding the United States because of Trump’s comments and policies toward their country.
That puts Louisiana in a difficult position. The state has spent years building a tourism relationship with Canada, helped by the deep Acadian and French-speaking ties the two places share. Nungesser’s trip to Toronto, Montréal and Québec City last year was part of an effort to shore up that connection and reassure Canadians that Louisiana still wanted them here.
State tourism officials are now trying to keep that relationship intact while federal policies continue making their job harder.
There are legitimate reasons for the United States to challenge unfair trade practices, protect domestic industries and respond when American producers are being pushed out by cheaper foreign competition. Louisiana’s shrimping industry shows why those arguments cannot simply be dismissed.
But tariffs rarely land in only one place. One Louisiana industry may get some protection while another business pays more for supplies. An American manufacturer may get relief from foreign competition while another company suddenly faces a retaliatory tariff on what it sells abroad. And when the dispute becomes personal enough that people stop traveling to the United States, tourism takes a hit without ever being part of the trade negotiations.
Louisiana is now dealing with pieces of each of those problems.
Businesses are watching what happens to the price of imported goods. Some domestic industries see an opportunity to compete on better terms. Exporters have to consider what Canadian retaliation could mean for their products. At the same time, Louisiana tourism officials are trying to bring Canadian visitors back while relations between the two countries remain strained.
For New Orleans, fewer visitors eventually mean fewer occupied hotel rooms, fewer restaurant checks, fewer tickets sold and less money moving through locally owned businesses.
The tariff debate may be taking place primarily in Washington, but its consequences do not stop there. Some of the cost eventually finds its way to Louisiana.
