Trump’s Immigration Policy and Tariffs Impact Disney’s Expansion Plans

In the fall of 2024, college campuses started booming again. For the first time since the pandemic, college enrollment increased by 4.7 percent to nearly 16 million students.

While these statistics are great news for colleges, it’s bad news for the construction industry. With more high school graduates heading to college, there are fewer going into the skilled trades at a time when they are desperately needed.

According to Axios, the construction industry needs to attract more workers this year to meet demand. That’s on top of the 115,000 construction jobs that are currently vacant across the country, which puts the industry in a bind.

This lack of qualified workers is only going to get worse, thanks to President Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants. According to Axios, 26 percent of all construction workers are immigrants, and 13 percent of the entire construction workforce nationwide is undocumented. 

The Associated Builders and Contractors chief economist Anirban Basu said:

Faster-than-expected immigration over the past few years has also bolstered labor supply, and potential changes to immigration policy will likely constrain worker availability.

This decimation of the construction workforce comes at a particularly bad time for The Walt Disney Company. With the company planning to invest billions in construction projects at Walt Disney World and Disneyland, there may not be anyone who can build them.

This problem gets worse in Florida as the State Legislature and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are both urging a crackdown on undocumented immigrants. However, they are fighting over how severe that crackdown should be, with industries like tourism and construction urging the Legislature to be more lenient with the workers both industries need to survive.

In California, Disney also has a larger issue regarding its building projects at Disneyland. Disney will be fighting for the same workers who will be needed to help rebuild Los Angeles after the devasting wildfires.

In both cases, Disney will struggle to find the workforce to complete its construction projects in time. And then, Disney was dealt a second blow by the Trump Administration.

On Saturday, Trump issued sweeping tariffs against Canada, China, and Mexico. Much of the steel and wood that Disney will need to complete its new construction projects will come from Canada and China.

Disney only allocates a certain amount for new projects at its parks, so any overages will mean fewer rides and attractions will be built. This comes at a time when Universal Studios has nearly completed Epic Universe in Central Florida, and Disney desperately needs new attractions to compete.

For now, Disney, like the rest of America, will have to wait to see how this immigration crackdown and tariff mess plays out. However, it could end poorly for Disney as they look for someone to build their new parks.