Trump Admin Sued Over National Parks Fees - Newsweek

A Phoenix-based tour company is suing the Trump administration over the president’s executive order significantly raising entrance fees for certain national parks, including Grand Canyon, for overseas visitors. Across Arizona Tours, which is being represented for free by the Pacific Legal Foundation, said the order “threatens their ability to operate” and has led their sales to “plummet.”

The lawsuit shows how the executive order, aimed at raising funds and improving the visitor experience for “American families,” has become controversial with a knock-on impact for local businesses. With Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress, the courts have emerged as arguably the chief restraint on Trump administration policy.

"This administration puts American families first by making sure access to our national treasures, like our forests, are affordable and accessible," a United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) spokesperson told Newsweek.

Newsweek contacted the National Park Service for comment via email on Wednesday and Across Arizona Tours via their online inquiry form outside regular office hours.

In July 2025, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14314, titled “Making America Beautiful Again by Improving Our National Parks.” It instructed the Interior and Agriculture department secretaries to introduce a new $100 surcharge on any non-U.S. resident entering 11 national parks across the country in addition to the standard entry fee. Additionally, the cost of an annual pass for overseas visitors increased from $80, which will remain for U.S. residents, to $250.

The additional charges for non-U.S. resident visitors went into effect in January 2026.

Across Arizona Tours on Monday sued the secretaries of Interior and Agriculture and the acting director of the National Park Service, along with their respective departments/agencies, in response to Trump’s executive order. The case was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona.

They said the additional fees are “both unprecedented and unlawful” and argued that the executive branch overstepped its powers by acting without congressional approval.

In a statement, the Pacific Legal Foundation, which is representing Across Arizona Tours, said that the new fees on overseas visitors caused Across Arizona Tours’ “sales to plummet,” threatening “their ability to operate.

"Not surprisingly, these increased fees are discouraging international tourists from visiting the Grand Canyon—which means a loss of business opportunities for companies like Across Arizona Tours. And a loss of tourism also likely means lost business opportunities for other businesses in the region.”

The Pacific Legal Foundation argued that the department secretaries exceeded their authority under the Federal Land Recreation Enforcement Act, which governs park entrance fees, with higher fees for non-residents.

In a statement provided to Newsweek, a Department of Interior spokesperson said: “Thanks to President Donald J. Trump, U.S. residents, who already fund the National Park System through federal taxes, are continuing to enjoy affordable pricing, while foreign tourists are paying higher entrance fees to help maintain our parks and improve visitor experiences.

“This administration will continue to put American families first—making parks more accessible, more affordable and more efficient for future generations.”

Jacob Haas, a Pacific Legal Foundation attorney, told Newsweek: “This case is just another example of the executive branch stretching its statutory authority beyond what Congress actually gave it the power to do.

“Congress gave the executive branch limited authority to set fees at national parks, and nowhere in the statute did Congress give the secretaries the power to charge non-residents disproportionately higher fees for the same benefits.”

The dispute over higher fees for non-U.S. resident visitors isn’t the first legal battle to result from Trump’s executive orders.

In July, U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley ordered the National Park Service and Interior Department to reinstate materials removed in response to Trump’s Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History executive order, which he signed in March 2025.

In response to the executive order, which targeted content depicting the United States as “inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed,” a number of plaques and interpretive panels covering slavery and Indigenous history were removed.

With Republicans controlling the House and Senate, some of the most effective opposition to Trump administration policies has taken place via the courts.

On September 28, a lawsuit was filed arguing that Trump’s executive order seeking to deny birthright citizenship to some U.S.-born children violates the Fourteenth Amendment and federal law.

In recent months, the Trump administration has suffered a string of legal defeats in response to its efforts to obtain sensitive voter registration records, which it argues it needed for election integrity ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Tobias Meyjes and Dave Siminoff.