The number of people moving from Germany to the United States dropped sharply in 2025 following the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, official data showed on Monday. Between January and September, emigration to the U.S. decreased by 17.8% year-on-year to around 17,100, according to preliminary figures from Germany’s federal statistics office.
“Departures to the U.S. in the first nine months of this year were at their lowest level since the pandemic-hit year of 2021,” the office said in a statement. Migration from the U.S. to Germany rose by 3.4% to more than 19,300 in the same period, marking the first time since 2021 that more people moved from the U.S. to Germany than vice versa.Tourism between the two nations also declined. From January to August, 1.96 million U.S. visitors arrived in Germany, down 3.2% from the same period in 2024.
The drop was most pronounced in summer, with July arrivals falling by 10.2%. Despite a 1.3% decline in U.S.-bound air travel, the U.S. remained the top non-European destination from German airports.
Overall, the top foreign destinations for German travellers for the period were Spain, Turkey and Italy. In March, Germany updated its travel advisory for the U.S. to emphasise that a visa or entry waiver does not guarantee entry for its citizens after several Germans were detained at the border.
And it appears that Trump is far from popular in Spain.
Almost seven out of ten Spaniards (67%) disapprove of Donald Trump’s administration and 39% view US-Spain relations as ‘bad,’ according to the ‘IV Annual Report on the Image of the United States in Spain’ by the Franklin Institute at the University of Alcalá. This study is conducted annually to measure Spanish society’s perception of the United States and covers aspects such as the evolution of Spanish opinion on the United States, especially after Donald Trump’s election victory, and the degree of knowledge about Spain’s contribution to the birth of the United States ahead of the 250th anniversary of its Declaration of Independence.
According to its conclusions, Spanish public opinion narrowly approves (5.3) of the United States, with young people being the segment that views the US most positively, as 49% of those surveyed say they have a positive view of the country. The Spaniards who rate their image of the United States most highly are voters for right-wing parties, led by a score of 7.2 among far right Vox voters, followed by 6.5 among centre right PP voters.
In the last five years, the image of the United States has worsened overall for 64% of respondents, with the exception of 45% of Vox voters, for whom it has strengthened since 2020. According to respondents, this deterioration is mainly due to the Trump administration’s immigration (62%), tariff (58%) and international (51%) policies.