Biden Wants U.S. Border Restrictions Relaxed by Mid-May, Report Says

Biden Wants U.S. Border Restrictions Relaxed by Mid-May, Report Says

March 19, 2021 ctn_admin

A report says the U.S. is looking to the middle of May for relaxing restrictions on travel across the border with Canada and Mexico.

CNBC reports that two sources familiar with the issue said the Biden administration also is looking to relax restrictions on inbound international travel from the U.K., Europe and Brazil.

“While there has not been a policy memo or formal codification of that time frame, the discussion has focused on trying to limit the spread of variants domestically as localities make their own decisions on how quickly to reopen. In the meantime, officials have suggested President Joe Biden and his Covid task force need more time to feel comfortable with reopening borders and increasing the level of air traffic from overseas,” CNBC quoted a source as saying.

“There is going to be a sea change in mid-May when vaccines are more widely available to everyone,” one senior administration official told the network.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week said the border will open “eventually,” but that science has to rule the day.

Still, if Biden is pushing for an earlier opening and providing vaccines, it’s reasonable to think mid-May might be a viable date for a border reopening if the COVID-19 situation is under some amount of control. And that’s great news for the tourism industries in both countries.

Both countries on Thursday (March 18) agreed to extend the current border closure to April 21.

The Canada-US border was first closed to all but essential travel on March 21 of last year.

EDITOR’S NOTE: We have a column today from Editor in Chief Jim Byers on why the Trudeau government should be providing a potential border opening date.