by Jen Mallia
Last updated: 10:40 AM ET, Tue September 30, 2025
U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra has been known to say some things that ruffle Canadian feathers. One of his latest comments, made at the Global Business Forum last week in Banff, speculated on whether maintaining U.S. customs preclearance sites at Canadian airports still makes sense in view of declining cross border travel. "Matter of fact, the numbers are down. We're not sure we can make the numbers work anymore … preclearance is something that is done at the expense of the U.S. government. We paid for it," the CBC reports Hoekstra as saying.
"You know, [if] 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."
Later, moderator Colin Robertson, a former Canadian diplomat, suggested that ending the program, introduced by Eisenhower in the 1950s, would be “cutting off your nose to spite your face,” to which Hoekstra took umbrage. “Nobody said we're ending preclearance. Don't put words in my mouth," the ambassador responded.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) presently operate preclearance sites in five countries besides Canada: Ireland, Aruba, Bermuda, Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and Bahamas.
In Canada, the sites are at the eight largest airports: Calgary International Airport, Edmonton International Airport, Stanfield International Airport (Halifax), Trudeau International Airport (Montreal), Macdonald-Cartier International Airport (Ottawa), Pearson International Airport (Toronto), Vancouver International Airport, Winnipeg James Armstrong Richardson International Airport and at the Alaska Marine Highway System Ferry Terminal (Prince Rupert, British Columbia).
According to the CBP website, 600 officers and agriculture specialists are stationed at the international sites. In 2024, “CBP personnel stationed abroad precleared more than 22 million travelers, representing nearly 16 percent of all commercial air travelers to the United States,” states the site.
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