President Trump
Donald TrumpIran condemns American businessman on espionage charge: DC report, capitals see few problems, heavy security amid protest concerns Those seeking forgiveness paid Trump’s allies tens of thousands to lobby President: NYT MORE on Monday it moved to lift restrictions imposed on travelers to the U.S. from much of Europe and Brazil, which were implemented last year to slow the spread of the new coronavirus, although action must be stopped by the next government Biden.
Trump issued an executive order ending travel restrictions in the UK, Ireland, Brazil and the countries of Europe that make up the Schengen Area as of January 26. The order came two days before Trump stepped down. President-elect Joe Biden
Joe Biden Fear of internal attacks leads to additional FBI screening of National Guard troops: AP Iran condemns American businessman on espionage charge: DC report, capitals see few problems, heavy security amid protests MOREThe team immediately signaled that it would move to reverse the order.
“With the worsening of the pandemic and more contagious variants emerging around the world, it is no time to lift restrictions on international travel,” tweeted the White House press secretary. Jen Psaki
Jen PsakiBiden takes on dangerous moment Overnight Health Care: Biden reveals vaccine plan focusing on mass inoculations | Coronavirus deaths worldwide exceed 2 million | CDC: New variant may be the dominant strain in the US until March. Biden chooses former Obama aide, Anita Dunn, as senior adviser to the.
“Following the advice of our medical team, Management does not intend to lift these restrictions on 1/26. In fact, we plan to strengthen public health measures in relation to international travel, in order to further reduce the spread of COVID-19, ”continued Psaki.
The order states that Trump’s action came on the recommendation of Secretary of Health and Human Services, Alex Azar. The memo cites the new request from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that requires passengers traveling by plane to the U.S. to receive a negative COVID-19 test three days before the flight departs, saying it will help prevent travelers spread the virus.
The Trump administration’s travel restrictions to China and Iran will remain in effect, however, because, the order states, countries “have repeatedly failed to cooperate with the United States public health authorities and to share accurate and timely information about the spread of the virus ”And therefore cannot be trusted to implement the CDC request.
“In this regard, the Secretary advised me to remove the restrictions applicable to the Schengen Area, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and the Federative Republic of Brazil, leaving the restrictions applicable to the People’s Republic of China and Islam in force Republic of Iran, ”says Trump’s order. “I agree with the secretary that this action is the best way to continue protecting Americans from COVID-19 while allowing travel to resume safely.”
Although Trump signed the order on Monday, the action will not take effect until six days after he leaves office and Biden is sworn in.
The order comes at a time when coronavirus cases and deaths continue to reach worrying levels and daily records. Nearly 400,000 people in the US and more than 2 million people worldwide have died from COVID-19. Although two vaccines have been approved for emergency use in the United States, the Trump administration has fallen far short of initial targets in the distribution and administration of the vaccine.
The order will be one of the last actions Trump will take in relation to the pandemic, after being widely criticized for regularly minimizing the threat posed by the virus.
Trump announced in mid-March last year that he would impose travel restrictions on individuals entering the United States from the 26 countries that make up the Schengen area, weeks after the first case was reported in the U.S. The measure initially attracted scrutiny because it did not include the United Kingdom or Ireland, and the Trump administration later began to restrict travel to those countries as well.
Later, Trump put travel restrictions on Brazil in late May.
The executive order suspending travel restrictions was one of several released by the White House on Monday as the final hours of Trump’s presidency ended. Trump is also expected to grant a final wave of pardons before leaving office on Wednesday.
– Updated 19h45