How Donald Trump is changing where Australians travel, affecting companies operating on global stage such as Flight Centre

Australian companies that operate on a global stage, such as Flight Centre, will be more prone to infection from the global trade malaise.

Another is pallet giant Brambles, which is generally a good barometer for the economy. But its quarterly update released weaker than anticipated sales growth resulting from “macroeconomic uncertainty on consumer demand”.

However, as we move towards full-year results, there will be other Australian companies with international operations that may issue warnings about the effect Donald Trump’s trade grenade could have on their profit.

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In the US, this has already begun. Over the past few weeks, three of the country’s largest airlines, Delta, American Airlines and Southwest, have withdrawn their earnings guidance for 2025 because of their inability to predict how profit will fare amid a drop-off in bookings that took root in February.

Flight Centre says it is taking action to address short-term results volatility brought about by uncertain trading conditions “including recent changes to United States trade and entry policies”. This will include cutting staff in some areas and reining in capital expenditure.

Official statistics from the US International Trade Administration reveal the number of visitors from Australia in March 2025 was down by 7 per cent on March last year and down 10 per cent in overall international visitors by air.

Curiously, there is no indication yet from Qantas that it is seeing any meaningful drop in forward bookings to the US.

But the situation is certainly being watched by Qantas, whose bookings to the US may have been supported by customers availing themselves of its loyalty scheme.

And while Virgin Australia has no meaningful international business, any upheaval in the aviation business and sharemarkets couldn’t come at a worse time for a business that’s trying for the third time to list on the stock exchange.

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Markets have been in chaos since Trump went postal on his trade war.

Virgin’s recent profit performance, its appointment of a new chief executive and a deal to have Qatar as a new shareholder, rendered the timing ripe for an IPO.

But undertaking an IPO under the current market conditions feels like the equivalent of constructing a building in the middle of a cyclone.

To stick with the June timetable feels very brave.

International markets appear to have calmed a little over the past week. But as recent history has shown, it only takes another errant social media post from Trump to plunge us back into chaos.

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