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Trump signs executive order to raise entry fees for foreigners visiting national parks
President Donald Trump speaks during a roundtable at "Alligator Alcatraz," a new migrant detention facility at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility, on Tuesday, in Ochopee, Fla. AP file
US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to raise the entry fees for foreigners visiting US national parks, even as his administration seeks to cut national park spending by more than a third.
In a statement, the White House said that the revenue generated from the increased entry fees will raise hundreds of millions of dollars for conservation and deferred maintenance projects to improve national parks.
'Charging higher entrance fees to foreign tourists is a common policy at national parks throughout the world that supports both conservation and affordable access for residents,' the White House statement titled 'President Trump Makes Our National Parks Great Again' said.
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The Trump administration has defended the order, saying that it promotes fairness as American taxpayers help fund national parks and public lands through their taxes, but foreigners pay the same amount as they do to enter.
The executive order comes as the Trump administration has proposed cutting more than $1 billion from the Park Service budget in fiscal 2026, which would represent a reduction of more than a third of the agency's budget from the prior year.
Permanent staffing at the Park Service since Trump took office in January has dropped 24 per cent, while just 4,500 of the 8,000 seasonal workers his administration pledged for this summer have been hired, according to an analysis on Wednesday from the National Parks Conservation Association, a watchdog-advocacy group.
'During President Trump's first term, he signed the Great American Outdoors Act—the single largest investment in America's national parks and public lands in history and the most significant conservation achievement since Teddy Roosevelt's presidency,' the statement said.
With inputs from agencies
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