President Trump, in an address to the nation Wednesday night promised to deliver the "most aggressive and comprehensive effort to combat a virus" in modern history. He announced aggressive measures including an expansion of a travel ban to slow the spread of the virus.
"To keep new cases from entering our shores, we will be suspending all travel from Europe to the United States for the next 30 days," Mr. Trump said. However, he made an exception for the U.K. And exemptions will also be made for American travelers who have undergone screenings. The new travel ban will go into effect late Friday night at midnight.
In his address, the president indicated that trade would also be subject to the suspension. "These prohibitions will not only apply to the tremendous amount of trade and cargo, but various other things as we get approval," he said. However, after his speech, he clarified by tweet that it's "very important for all countries & businesses to know that trade will in no way be affected by the 30-day restriction on travel from Europe. The restriction stops people not goods."
Mr. Trump accused the EU of not taking the precautions the U.S. had taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus from China. "The European Union failed to take the same precautions and restrict travel from China and other hot spots," Mr. Trump said. "As a result a large number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travel." But he did not explain why he made an exception for the U.K., which has had six coronavirus deaths so far and has 373 cases diagnosed, among them, the health minister. -Read More