Cortez Masto’s tourism bill gets trade rep’s backing amid visitor decline in Las Vegas

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., won a commitment from U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer to support her bill creating a Canada-Mexico working group aimed at boosting trade and tourism, her office said in a news release.

Greer made the commitment after Cortez Masto pressed him today on the decline in Las Vegas visitation during a Senate Finance Committee hearing.

“Last year, for the first time in decades, the U.S. experienced a trade deficit in our largest service export, and that is tourism,” Cortez Masto said. “After running a trade surplus in travel in 2024, we actually experienced a $14 billion trade deficit in 2025. … We have seen that across the country.”

The USMCA Travel and Tourism Resiliency Act directs the trade representative to prioritize creating the working group. It wouldn’t establish the group outright — that requires sign-off from Canada and Mexico.

The proposal would establish the working group as part of the joint review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the pact between the three countries.

U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., is sponsoring a companion bill in the House.

The push comes as Canadian tourism to Las Vegas dropped 17.4% from 2024 to 2025, a loss of 252,400 visitors, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

Since President Donald Trump retook office in January 2025, his tariff fights, immigration policies and remarks about Canada have coincided with a drop in Canadian travel to the United States.

Greer agreed that the tourism decline is a problem and said he would “100%” support the proposal. Other sectors — agriculture, textiles — already have their own working groups, where officials from all three countries hash out trade in their specific lane.

“Creating a Travel and Tourism Trade Working Group will strengthen North American cooperation, boost competitiveness, expand travel exports, and support the millions of American workers and businesses powered by travel,” said Erik Hansen, head of government relations for the U.S. Travel Association, in a news release from Titus’ office earlier this year.