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The latest Henley Passport Index shows what ought to be embarrassing for establishment Washington: the U.S. passport has only just clawed its way back into the Top 10 despite losing visa-free access to seven destinations over the past year, leaving Americans able to travel visa-free to just 179 countries. That recovery to 10th place comes after a painful fall to 12th in October, a clear sign that our global standing has been eroded while others sprint ahead. The raw facts are simple and worrying — and they demand answers from the people we entrust with our foreign policy and border security.
Even more alarming is the hypocrisy baked into the system: while American citizens can visit 179 destinations without prior visas, the United States grants visa-free entry to only 46 nationalities, placing us near the bottom on the Henley Openness Index. That yawning gap between outbound mobility and inbound openness is not an innocent statistic — it’s a reflection of failed reciprocity and weak diplomacy that puts hardworking Americans at a disadvantage. If our leaders want to talk about protecting Americans, they should start by insisting foreign governments treat us with the same respect we offer.
This decline is not a one-year fluke; it’s the product of a decade-plus erosion that saw the U.S. fall from joint first in 2014 to a much lower standing today, one of the steepest slides of any nation over the past 20 years. That long-term slide is a direct consequence of complacency — assuming past privilege would carry us forever while other countries, from the UAE to China, worked aggressively to expand their travel reach. American power is supposed to be a force that opens doors, not one that watches doors shut while bureaucrats shrug.
Worse still, several countries have curtailed visa-free access for U.S. travelers in recent years — moves tied to reciprocity, shifting geopolitics, and the perception that the U.S. no longer enforces its own entry rules in a way that commands respect. Places like Brazil, Vietnam, and others have adjusted their policies, and those are not random acts; they are responses to how nations perceive American policy and reliability. This should be a wake-up call: soft power fades when it is not backed by clear, firm policy that defends our interests and insists on fair treatment for American citizens abroad.
Conservative common sense offers the remedy: demand reciprocity, condition travel privileges on mutual treatment of Americans, and pair strong border enforcement with streamlined, professional consular services that actually help citizens. We should negotiate from a position of strength, not plead for favors while watching our passport’s power dwindle. It’s time to restore American respect on the world stage so patriotic travelers can move about the globe with the freedom and dignity they deserve.
