• Friday, March 29, 2024
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BusinessDay

Trump stops most travelers from Europe entering America

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US President Donald Trump has announced sweeping new travel restrictions on Europe in a bid to combat the spread of the coronavirus.

The “strong but necessary” restrictions would not apply to Ireland and the UK, which has 460 cases of the virus.

A presidential proclamation issued later specified that only travelers  from the 26 countries in the Schengen border-free travel area were barred.

This leaves a number of other European countries as well as the UK unaffected.

“To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe,” Mr Trump said from the Oval Office on Wednesday evening.

“The new rules will go into effect Friday at midnight,” he added. The travel order does not apply to US citizens.

There are 1,135 confirmed cases of the virus across the US, with 38 deaths so far.

Europe appears to have been largely surprised by President Trump’s announcement that the US was suspending travel from 26 European countries.

Several European ambassadors in Washington tell CNN they didn’t know this was coming, despite having been in contact with the administration over the past few days.

One ambassador in DC said there was “no indication” Trump would go to the lengths he did, while another spokesperson said German officials had no advanced warning this was coming.

“We knew something was coming on travel from Europe (more restrictive travel advice) but not this drastic,” the Belgian ambassador told CNN. “What is not understandable is the exception for the UK and the lack of national measures [domestically].”