Trump is always in the news! But in recent weeks, he’s been there for quite a few topics related to travel specifically. Since there are still tens of thousands of Canadians traveling to the United States every day, we want to share these updates, several of which have caused quite a stir.
Let’s say the 5 years of social media history story is quite peculiar… but completely irrelevant for us Canadians at least.
The media love to talk about Trump because people love to click on articles that talk about Trump. We don’t really like the idea of getting into that, but we want to cover the news from the world of travel.
Here are 8 updates on Trump and travel to the United States (and a reminder of another one as a bonus).
This news obviously made headlines all over the world: travelers will have to submit 5 years of their social media history. But it’s pretty important to mention that this absolutely doesn’t concern Canadian travelers.
Here are the basics:
- New requirement for a visa or an ESTA
- So NOT for Canadians
- Canadians are exempt from visas/ESTAs
- Social media history to provide
- 5 complete years
- Not yet official, but officially announced
- So it’s likely to happen
It’s good to know if you know Europeans or people of other nationalities who like to travel.
This American policy is objectively very extreme. Especially if social media is really monitored, but honestly, that’s far from certain.
It could just be to formalize that they reserve the right to check if they feel the need. Any country always has the right to ask you to see your social media, so it’s not that rare a concept.
Even Immigration Canada looks at social media! But for immigrants, whereas now the US is saying they want to do it for simple travelers, which is something else completely.
Their logic is that everyone entering the country should be subject to the same security standards, whether immigrating or visiting.
2. Travel ban expanded to citizens of 20+ countries
Trump 45 had created controversy with this measure, and Trump 47 is bringing it back. Depending on the country, there’s either a complete ban on entering the United States or additional restrictions. Canada is obviously not among the targeted countries.
Here are the basics:
- Unknown effective date
- Entry ban for citizens of 12 countries announced in June
- Afghanistan
- Myanmar
- Chad
- Congo Republic
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Haiti
- Libya
- Somalia
- Sudan
- Yemen
- Entry ban for citizens of 6 countries announced this week
- Burkina Faso
- Mali
- Niger
- Palestine
- South Sudan
- Syria
- Additional restrictions for citizens of 7 countries announced in June
- Burundi
- Cuba
- Laos
- Sierra Leone
- Togo
- Turkmenistan
- Venezuela
- Additional restrictions for citizens of 15 countries announced this week
- Angola
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Benin
- Côte d’Ivoire
- Dominica
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Malawi
- Mauritania
- Nigeria
- Senegal
- Tanzania
- Tonga
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
These are obviously not countries that have very powerful passports to begin with, so it’s not that new for these citizens. But the complete ban (apart from limited exemptions) is another very extreme measure.
The least surprising in this week’s additions is Venezuela, the oil-rich country where Trump is not ruling out war (for reasons surely completely unrelated to said oil).
The most surprising is the addition of 2 Caribbean countries (Antigua and Barbuda, as well as Dominica).
The reason given for these countries’ inclusion is their popular citizenship-by-investment programs; in other words, it’s easy to buy a passport there.
Their logic is that citizens of the targeted countries could bypass the rules via these 2 countries. What’s strange is that there are plenty of other countries (even in the Caribbean) that offer this type of program and that aren’t included in the new American rules.
3. Decrease of 26% in Canadian travelers in November 2025
The significant decrease in Canadian travelers going to the United States continues in last month’s numbers (November 2025). There were still 1.7 million Canadians who went there, but the 26% drop is still huge, obviously.
Here are the basics:
- New data from Statistics Canada
- For November 2025
- 1.7 million Canadians went to the US
- 1,278,000 by land
- 466,000 by air
- It’s a 26% drop compared to 2024
- 29% drop by land
- 19% drop by air
- It’s similar to all months of 2025
- The trend is quite stable
We’ve been sharing these stats every month, so I continue here.
It’s a gigantic drop. But on the other hand, it’s far from the “50% drop” fake news that some throw around.
And now that it’s lasted for almost 1 year, there’s a good chance this is the new normal, at least for Trump’s term.
4. New record for the number of travelers in one day
The impact of Canadian travelers is certainly not negligible, but the United States still just set a new travel record! The day with the most air passengers in all of American history took place recently.
Here are the basics:
- November 30th
- Sunday after Thanksgiving
- New all-time record
- For the number of air passengers
- 3.13 million people took a flight
- According to official statistics
- The previous record was 3.09 million
- In June of this year
To put it in perspective, that’s the equivalent of 1% of the entire American population (1 in 100 citizens) that took a flight in one day. But the passenger numbers also obviously include all the non-citizens who took a flight.
Travelers showed up, at least for Thanksgiving, which is one of the most important holidays in the United States.
International arrivals are down, but that didn’t prevent setting this new record. The TSA (Transportation Security Administration) counts the number of passengers at security checkpoints every day and announced the impressive new number.
That said, as the population increases, it’s normal for there to be more and more travelers, too!
5. Self-deportation offer and use of TSA data
I saw a surprising poster during my trip to get a bonus of 350,000 points (and even more) that I just finished: the government’s new self-deportation offer. Simultaneously, it has been revealed that the TSA now provides domestic flight data to the government to help with deportations.
Here are the basics:
- The government has a new offer
- 1000 CAD per person
- Free plane tickets
- Forgiveness for unpaid fines
- The government uses TSA data
- From domestic flights
- To help track down illegal immigrants
- And deport them (without them being entitled to the offer)
It doesn’t affect Canadian travelers, but I was certainly surprised to see this poster multiple times during my many security checkpoint experiences (I had 10 consecutive days of flights for a kind of mileage run Advent calendar).
I also wanted to mention the use of TSA data because it’s causing controversy, and Trump certainly deserves a lot of blame for a lot of things… but it must be said that plenty of countries already do that.
Even as a traveler, if you’re no longer eligible to be in a country (like if you’ve exceeded the validity of your visa, for example), there’s a very good chance you’ll be intercepted if you take a domestic flight in any country, because the data is indeed shared. The government will obviously help the government.
Since that news related to Trump’s deportation efforts has surprised many, it’s good that you know this basic concept as a traveler, in case you were tempted to not follow any country’s visa rules.
6. Abolition of TSA requested by the Secretary of Transportation’s daughter
The abolition of the TSA has been requested for many years, by many people. But it’s the person who requested it this time that attracts attention: the daughter of the Secretary of Transportation (the American equivalent of the Minister of Transportation).
Here are the basics:
- The Secretary of Transportation’s daughter made viral posts
- To complain about the TSA and request its abolition
- And say the TSA is “unconstitutional”
- Because she was dissatisfied with the 15-minute delay
- For her thorough screening for refusing to go through the scanner
- Because she’s pregnant
- Several people told her to tell her father instead of going on social media
- But several people aren’t really aware of the structure
- The TSA doesn’t report to the Department of Transportation
- But rather to the Department of Homeland Security
In an excellent example of “just because it’s Trump doesn’t mean it’s a bad idea” or “even a broken clock is right twice a day” (depending on your preference), Trump fortunately abolished the stupid rule of removing your shoes earlier this year.
That’s at least some improvement!
The complete abolition of security checkpoints seems unthinkable for many people, but in its own tests, the agency misses 90%+ of prohibited items. So other people consider that this is too is security theater that isn’t necessary.
Trump had proposed to abolish security checkpoints in 34% of American airports during his 1st term, but had backed down in the face of the strong unpopularity of this measure.
So it would be surprising if he actually abolished the TSA. But with Trump, you can never rule out anything either.
7. War on pajamas/sweatpants in airports
Speaking of the Secretary of Transportation, he had made headlines a few weeks ago, and we hadn’t talked about it. I’m doing it now while sharing updates, because it’s about the only Trumpist measure that had little support among non-Trumpists.
Here are the basics:
- The government launched a new “civility” campaign
- Titled “The Golden Age of travel starts with you”
- To bring back “courtesy and class” to air travel
- The most viral part was the recommendation on clothing
- It encourages travelers to “dress with respect”
- Many have called this the war on pajamas/sweatpants in airports
- But the campaign also encourages other behaviors
- Keeping control of your children in planes and airports
- Helping pregnant women and seniors place their luggage
- Saying “please” and “thank you” to flight attendants and others
- The campaign is in response to the increase in unruly passengers
- It’s a real problem that flight attendants have been denouncing
- The stats show a lot more unruly passenger incidents than before
- It’s not clear that dressing with respect would have an impact, though
- But many certainly agree
You objectively cannot at all be against a campaign to encourage more courtesy, class, and civility in air travel. It’s impossible for that to be a bad thing. Kudos for that part.
The specific concept of dressing better for a flight, though… that’s certainly more subjective.
Nostalgia for the era when people dressed very well for any public outing is a very strong feeling for many.
I understand the desire to see people dressed more “properly” on planes than in grocery stores. Many find traveling stressful and would like higher standards there.
But I also understand everyone wanting to be comfortable, to at least remove one negative element from the plane experience. There’s so little space in economy class; the comfort level is already very low.
Yes, people dressed well on planes in the 1980s… but flying was also extremely elitist and only for the rich back then, so there was a lot more space.
As I shared in many media interviews recently, flying has actually never been cheaper in history. It’s a good thing that not just rich people can travel… even if that means more people dressed “poorly!”
And as you should know by now, normalizing and trivializing travel and treating travel as not being special is actually one of the best ways to travel for less. And dressing up kind of goes against that.
Personally, it doesn’t change anything in my life to see people dressed in sweatpants on the plane. People who don’t use headphones and let sounds emanate from their *!&($#Q(*&Q devices on the other hand…
8. Another new strategy to bypass the liquids rule
I told you about the end of liquid restrictions on planes during my recent trip to Europe, and that it wasn’t about to happen on this side of the Atlantic. It’s more niche, but there’s another tip to bypass American rules that just went viral (like the one we told you about several years ago).
Here are the basics:
- Bringing a whole coconut is allowed by the TSA
- Opening it in flight allows you to hydrate for free
- You’ll need a tool to open it and a metal straw
- The destination must not ban exotic fruits
- It’s maybe simpler than the already known tip
- Of bringing a frozen drink
- Which is allowed because it’s not a liquid
Well, it’s a very light topic to conclude these updates.
But if ever you want to be hydrated for free in flight, you have a new option in the United States! Just bring a whole coconut! 😂
I communicated with CATSA on Friday to validate if this is allowed in Canada too (because the frozen drinks tip does NOT work in Canada, unlike in the United States). I’ll update this article with their response if you’re interested.
Bonus: Price tripled for national park passes in 2026
We already made you a complete article on the price increase for US national parks passes, but I wanted to remind you of it as a bonus here because you have little time left to buy your 2026 pass at the current price and avoid the 213% increase!
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Summary
The media love to talk about Trump because people love to click on articles that talk about Trump. We don’t really like the idea of getting into that, but since there are objectively still many Canadian travelers going to the United States, and these news items generated significant discussion, we wanted to keep you informed.
What would you like to know about these updates on US travel? Tell us in the comments below.
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Featured image: Donald Trump on the left, airport sign on the right (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons & Andrew D’Amours/Flytrippers, edited by Flytrippers)
