Canada-U.S. coronavirus border restrictions could soon be ‘released,’ Trump suggests

Maddox

Well-known member

Member

Apr 15, 2020

#1

United States President Donald Trump signalled Wednesday that he’s prepared to support easing travel restrictions along the Canada-U.S. border sooner rather than later — although the feeling may not be mutual, given the extent of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States.

Canada is “doing well” in its efforts to control the spread of the virus, Trump said during his daily media briefing at the White House.

Earlier Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made it clear that efforts to control the spread of the virus in Canada are likely to remain in place for several more weeks. And on Tuesday, the government tightened its self-isolation requirements for those arriving from outside the country’s borders, making an extended hotel stay mandatory for anyone without a suitable quarantine plan.

In the same breath, however, the president — who makes no secret of his urgent desire to see the American economy come roaring back to life — seemed to equate Canada’s success with efforts in the U.S., a comparison sure to raise eyebrows north of the border.

“Our relationship with Canada is very good — we’ll talk about that. It will be one of the early borders to be released,” the president said. “Canada’s doing well, we’re doing well — so we’ll see.”

“We have a lot of nations that are heavily infected — some are getting better, (but) some are still on the way up, unfortunately. We’re keeping very strong borders with those nations,” he said.

“But with Canada, we are talking about different things.”