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President Donald Trump threatened undefined retaliation Friday against any country that issues a travel advisory on the the U.S. because of gun violence. According to USA Today, the President's statement came In an impromptu talk with reporters at the White House before Trump headed to fundraisers in New York city.
"If they did that, we'd just reciprocate. We are a very reciprocal nation with me as the head. When somebody does something negative to us in terms of a country, we do it to them."
Amnesty International and a growing list of countries have issued travel advisories because of gun violence, including mass shootings over the weekend in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.
Uruguay and Venezuela have already issued offical travel warnings for the United States and China’s Foreign Ministry also issued a statement warning of the possibility of mass shootings.
In recent years the countries of Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Uruguay, Venezuela, Ireland, Germany and Japan have all issued warnings with varying degrees of intensity about gun violence in America.
"Depending on the traveler's gender identity, race, country of origin, ethnic background, or sexual orientation, they may be at higher risk of being targeted with gun violence, and should plan accordingly."
Trump did not specify which countries he would retaliate against if they issued travel warnings.
Canada's current advisory for the United States is the lowest rated risk level and says to “Exercise normal security precautions,” and that “there are no significant safety and security concerns. The overall safety and security situation is similar to that of Canada. You should take normal security precautions.” says the official govnerment of Canada website. However, it does mention that mass shootings do occur.
"Incidents of mass shooting occur, but account for a small percentage of homicide deaths in the country. The likelihood of a tourist being a victim of such an incident is low."
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