President-Elect Biden to Block Trump’s Plan to Lift Travel Restrictions

United States President-elect Joe Biden revealed he would reject a plan by current President Donald Trump to lift travel bans from the European Union, the U.K. and Brazil.

According to Bloomberg, Trump said Monday that non-American citizens from the aforementioned regions would be allowed into the U.S due to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recent ruling on mandatory negative COVID-19 tests for international travelers.

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While Trump’s intentions to lift the travel ban would go into effect on January 26—just six days after Biden takes office—the President-elect’s spokesperson Jen Psaki said the incoming administration plans to block the move.

“On the advice of our medical team, the Administration does not intend to lift these restrictions on 1/26,” Psaki said on Twitter. “In fact, we plan to strengthen public health measures around international travel in order to further mitigate the spread of COVID-19.”

Trump later said the ruling could still be saved, as it was designed “to continue protecting Americans from COVID-19 while enabling travel to resume safely.”

The decision comes after the tourism and airline industries continued to lobby for an end to blanket travel bans, with trade groups like the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and Airlines for America (A4A) saying the restrictions should be lifted now that coronavirus tests are mandatory for international visitors.