The United States Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, has announced that the border between the United States and Canada will be closed to travels that are not absolutely necessary. According to him, this new development will begin from Saturday and will be reviewed after 30 days.
The partial border closure is a mutual agreement between President Donald Trump of the United States and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada. Trump confirmed this in his Wednesday tweet “We will be, by mutual consent, temporarily closing our Northern Border with Canada to non-essential traffic. Trade will not be affected”. Justin Trudeau also confirmed this in his tweet “I just spoke to President Trump again this morning and we have agreed that both Canada and the United States will temporarily restrict all nonessential travel across the Canada-U.S. border,” Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a news conference on Wednesday morning.
The partial border closure will only affect travels that are not absolutely necessary. People who wish to cross the border for recreation or tourism purpose will not be allowed to pass through. Even though about 200,000 people cross the border each day for several purposes, the measure had to be taken to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. The closure will also help reduce the risk of infecting those working at the border with the virus.
However, flights from the United States to Canada will be allowed to continue as planned. Travellers coming by airlines will be screened to be sure they do not carry the virus. If they exhibit any symptom of the coronavirus, they will not be allowed into Canada.
In the same vein, President Trump has announced that the United States and Mexico border will be closed to travels that are not absolutely necessary. In Trump’s words, “As we did with Canada, we’re also working with Mexico to implement new rules at our ports of entry to suspend non-essential travel”. Mexico’s Foreign Secretary, Marcelo Ebrard also confirmed the border closure.
Just as it affected the border between the United States and Canada, travels between the United States and Mexico for recreation or tourism purpose has been suspended until further notice. All migrants who do not have proper travel document will not be allowed to cross the border. Vehicle passengers and pedestrians will not be allowed to enter except for an important reason.
The United States and Mexico border closure will not affect “lawful trade and commerce” or the transportation of goods. Economic supply chains will still continue across borders. The absolutely necessary travels are categorised as – those travelling for medical purposes, those who plan to attend educational institutions, those travelling for emergency purpose, lawful cross border exchange. According to Ebrard, “everything that has to do with people who work in the United States who have that authorization every day to move from one place to another, will not be affected either”.
Different countries are putting up strict measures to curtail the spread of the coronavirus. With the spread of the coronavirus into 185 countries, it is best to introduce travel restrictions in order to reduce the spread.
