TORONTO — The convenience of U.S. customs pre-clearance that expedite U.S.-bound travel from many Canadian airports could be under threat.

According to the CBC, Pete Hoekstra, the U.S. Ambassador to Canada, said the pre-clearance program could be up for review amid declining Canada-to-U.S. cross-border travel volumes.

Statistics Canada’s August 2025 data, released earlier this month, showed a 34% drop in car travel year-over-year from Canada to the U.S., and a 25% drop in air travel.

The CBC quotes Hoekstra as saying: “Matter of fact, the numbers are down. We’re not sure we can make the numbers work anymore … pre-clearance is something that’s done at the expense of the U.S. government. We paid for it.”

He added: “You know, you can’t make the numbers work anymore – you’re all business people. You know what that means. You’ve got to take a look at some of these things.”

Hoekstra made the comments at the Global Business Forum taking place in Banff, moderated by Colin Robertson, Vice President at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute.

The CBC noted that Robertson pushed back on Hoekstra’s comments and later told reporters, “to me, it was like a threat, saying, all right, if you don’t come, we’re going to cut out pre-clearance … it is something that will cause hardship to a lot of Canadians if you were to proceed it that way.”