diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index f1abf3f3..b610a3dd 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -20,6 +20,7 @@ cache:
 env:
   global:
     - PIP_DOWNLOAD_CACHE=".pip_download_cache"
+    - SETUPTOOLS_USE_DISTUTILS=stdlib
     # do not load /etc/boto.cfg with Python 3 incompatible plugin
     # https://github.com/travis-ci/travis-ci/issues/5246#issuecomment-166460882
     - BOTO_CONFIG=/doesnotexist