For the EU, Banning American Tourists Is the Easy Part
It's the thorny challenges to reopening the European Union's internal borders that show just how tricky living with Covid-19 really is.
Tourists and Parisians are once again able to admire the view from the Eiffel Tower, but only if they wear a mask and take the stairs.
Photographer: Thomas Samson/AFP via Getty Images
When Donald Trump slapped a travel ban on Europe back in March to halt the spread of Covid-19, the U.S. president declared it “the most aggressive and comprehensive effort to confront a virus in modern history” — and he criticized the European Union for not having acted quickly enough to do the same.
The tables have turned. Today, it’s the EU that is leaving American tourists out in the cold with its new shortlist of 14 countries deemed safe for non-essential travel. Despite Trump’s bluster, the U.S. has racked up more than double the total caseload of the EU’s 27 members, and it hasn’t made the cut. Countries including Canada, Japan and Morocco have. China will be added to the list, provided it lifts its own curbs on European visitors.