19th January, 2021
President-elect Joe Biden will reverse the order by Donald Trump lifting the entry ban on non-U.S. citizens from much of Europe and Brazil.
Trump’s new order made Monday would have ended the travel restrictions on Jan. 26, six days after Trump would have left office.
Incoming White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki almost immediately tweeted that Trump’s order would be nixed when Biden takes office on Jan. 20.
“With the pandemic worsening, and more contagious variants emerging around the world, this is not the time to be lifting restrictions on international travel,” Psaki wrote.
“On the advice of our medical team, the Administration does not intend to lift these restrictions on 1/26. In fact, we plan to strengthen public health measures around international travel in order to further mitigate the spread of COVID-19.”
Trump’s policy change would have kept similar COVID-19 ban on foreigners who visited China or Iran in the past 14 days.
In his order lifting restrictions on Europe and Brazil, Trump cited a new travel rule requiring foreigners to provide a negative COVID-19 test before flights to the US.
Trump banned travel from the Schengen Zone in March near the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Brazil, Ireland and the UK were added later.