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The United States will require adult foreign nationals traveling to the United States to be fully vaccinated, another source familiar with the matter said, implementing what the source described as strict protocols to prevent the spread of Covid-19 from passengers who fly internationally to the US.
The lifting of travel restrictions to the United States will be good news for thousands of European citizens with families in the United States who have been separated during most of the pandemic.
The development is a first step towards bridging one of the many emerging rifts between the Biden administration and civil servants in Europe. A row has arisen between the United States and France over an agreement to equip Australia with nuclear-powered submarines, depriving France of a contract to supply conventional submarines. European leaders also noted the lack of consultations with the Biden team on Afghanistan.
It will also be welcomed by the travel industry, which had lobbied the federal government to lift some of the rules preventing international tourism. Airlines, hotels and hotel groups have all expressed support for allowing vaccinated tourists from overseas to return to the United States.
Travel bans to the United States were first imposed in the early days of the pandemic when then-President Donald Trump restricted travel from China in January 2020. This step did not occur. not prevented the virus from reaching the United States, but additional countries were added to the list as health officials urged the White House to limit entry to places with high case rates.
Trump added countries in the Schengen zone – which includes 26 European states, including France, Germany and Italy – as well as Ireland and the United Kingdom. Brazil, South Africa and India have been added separately. The land borders with Canada and Mexico have also been closed.
Biden had maintained strict bans on non-essential travel even as vaccination rates in Europe rose, citing the unpredictable nature of the pandemic and the emergence of the Delta variant.
But the system has proved exasperating for European governments, whose citizens of countries have always been barred from entering the United States, even as those countries have reduced their numbers of cases amid successful vaccination campaigns. Countries with higher cases that were not on the list were not subject to the rules.
In recent months, travel restrictions on people wishing to enter the United States have turned into a major transatlantic divide. European leaders, frustrated by the apparent lack of progress, began to publicly voice their grievances. They said the rules hurt relations between Europe and the United States.
Europe opened its borders to Americans in June, but last month turned the tide, removing the United States from a safe list of countries whose citizens are exempt from quarantine or testing requirements. Anger over the lack of reciprocity on the part of the United States partly fueled the decision, European officials familiar with the matter said.
Biden took office promising to restore frayed alliances and spent much of a trip to Europe in June, proclaiming his commitment to transatlantic relations. He announced during that visit a series of task forces to consider reopening trips, but months have passed with little evidence for the effort.
Overseen by the White House Covid-19 Response Team and the National Security Council, the groups include representatives from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as officials from the Departments of State, Health and Social Services, Homeland Security and Transportation.
US officials were in partnership with officials from the European Union, UK, Canada and Mexico and have met on several occasions to discuss the reopening situation since the administration announced them at the start. of Biden’s first overseas trip in June. There were also several breakout conversations between these larger meetings to discuss specific issues, such as the epidemiological situation, variants, surveillance and vaccination efforts, and plans to change travel restrictions, said a White House official at CNN.
But some people familiar with the task forces had questioned their effectiveness, as other countries began to open up to Americans with little clarity on whether the United States would reciprocate. A source familiar with the discussions described a “paralysis among the agencies” over the next steps.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
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