President Trump’s Executive Order on Holidays
President Trump signed an order giving federal employees time off both Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas. The president typically grants only one of those days.
Fox – 5 Atlanta
- President Trump signed an executive order making December 24 and December 26 federal holidays in 2025.
- This order applies only to federal departments and agencies.
- Private businesses, banks and post offices do not have to close and will generally remain open.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Dec. 18 giving federal employees additional time off around the upcoming holidays.
President Trump declared Christmas Eve and December 26th as federal holidays, extending the existing Christmas Day federal holiday into a super long weekend.
Although many private companies honor federal holidays and give their employees paid time off, they are not required to do so. This means that President Trump’s newly declared furloughs will only apply to departments within the federal government.
Here’s what you need to know about President Trump’s latest holiday order.
Did Donald Trump make Christmas Eve a holiday?
Yes, but only for federal employees this year.
According to President Trump’s order, some employees may still have to come to work at the discretion of agency leaders. Private companies can decide to give their employees time off, but they are not required by law.
Did President Trump make December 26th a federal holiday?
Yes, but only for federal employees this year. To permanently designate a specific day as a federal holiday, a bill must be passed by Congress and signed into law by the president. This was last done when Juneteenth was added in 2021 under the Biden administration.
It is not at all unusual for presidents to issue temporary leave orders, especially during winter celebrations. In 2014, President Barack Obama declared December 26, the same Friday as this year, a federal holiday. Trump did the same on Christmas Eve during his first term in 2019 and 2020.
What are the business days and holidays on Christmas Eve and December 26th?
While federal government offices may close around Christmas this year, banks, post offices and private retail stores are generally open.
According to the U.S. Postal Service website, post offices will be closed and no mail will be delivered on Christmas Day. The post office will be open for retail transactions on December 24th and December 26th, and mail will also be delivered on those days.
Banks will follow their normal schedule of being open on Dec. 24 and Dec. 26 and closed on Christmas Day, the Fed said.
Large independent retailers such as Target, Walmart and Costco are largely following the traditional rule of closing only on December 25th. Target stores will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Christmas Eve and closed on Christmas Day. The store will resume regular business hours on Friday, December 26th. Similarly, Walmart stores, Costco and other private businesses will be closed on Christmas Day.
President Trump has previously said he has too many holidays.
President Trump lamented how many paid vacation days there are in the United States.
“America already has too many holidays,” he wrote in a post on Truth Social on May 5, declaring a celebratory but labor holiday honoring World War I and World War II. “There are not enough days left this year. We were workers then and we are workers now!”
Also on June 11, President Trump said the United States has “too much non-work leave.”
“It’s costing our country billions of dollars to keep all these businesses closed,” President Trump wrote on June 19. “Workers don’t want that either! Soon we’ll have every working day of the year a holiday.”
There are 12 federal holidays in 2025 (two of which fall on the same day). He announced new public holidays, including May 8 as Victory Day in World War II, November 11 as Victory Day in World War I (although the federal government already recognizes this day as Veterans Day), and February 9 as American Bay Day.
Contributors: Marina Pitofsky, Francesca Chambers
Kinsey Crowley is a Trump Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Please contact KCrowley@usatodayco.com. follow her X (Twitter), blue sky and TikTok.
