Sponsors (3)
Introduced February 9, 2026 by Alice Costandina Titus · Last progress February 9, 2026
The bill aims to boost North American tourism and reduce cross-border legal ambiguity by aligning definitions with USMCA and creating a trilateral working group—trading modest taxpayer and administrative costs and some regulatory complexity for potential economic gains, improved travel facilitation, and clearer interagency consistency.
Importers, exporters, and small businesses gain a clearer, USMCA-aligned statutory definition of 'North America,' reducing legal uncertainty and lowering compliance risk for cross-border trade.
Federal agencies and employees (e.g., USTR) get a consistent treaty-based definition to apply across statutes, improving administrative clarity and reducing interagency inconsistency.
Small businesses in travel and tourism and workers in transportation, hospitality, and related industries gain a formal trilateral forum and coordinated efforts that can create export opportunities, increase visitation, and support job growth (also supporting U.S. competitiveness and the services trade balance).
Taxpayers and federal agencies face new administrative and staffing costs to create, staff, and support the USMCA working group and to update guidance and forms—costs that may not produce guaranteed economic returns.
Small businesses could be disadvantaged if coordinated initiatives and forum access disproportionately benefit larger industry players with more lobbying influence.
Prioritizing tourism facilitation could shift policymaker attention or resources away from other cross-border priorities (e.g., immigration enforcement, labor standards), producing potential trade-offs in enforcement and regulatory focus.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Directs the USTR to push for a USMCA Travel and Tourism Trade Working Group to coordinate North American tourism policy, information sharing, and annual meetings.
Directs the U.S. Trade Representative to push for creation of a North American Travel and Tourism Trade Working Group under the USMCA during the next joint review after the bill becomes law. The working group would include U.S. federal agencies, be co-chaired by each country, meet at least annually, take input from the travel and tourism industry, pursue actions to boost travel and tourism competitiveness and jobs, and require U.S. representatives to brief and consult specified congressional committees. Also defines “North America” as the United States, Canada, and Mexico and restates the economic importance of travel and tourism to the U.S. economy as background for the proposal.