Trump travel directive opens new rift with Europeans
LONDON — President Donald Trump’s surprise order banning travel to the United States from much of Europe hammered financial markets on both sides of the Atlantic on Thursday, opened a stark new rift with European allies, and drew accusations that he was fanning xenophobia rather than engaging in a serious effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
European leaders expressed indignation and bafflement over the sweeping restrictions, saying they were not consulted in advance about a directive likely to carry broad economic repercussions. They also chafed at Trump’s suggestion that inadequate containment efforts in Europe allowed travelers to “seed” a U.S. outbreak.
In an Oval Office address Wednesday night, the U.S. leader announced that all travel and movement of cargo into the United States from Europe, except from Britain, would be halted — though that statement was quickly walked back.
U.S. officials said the restrictions would apply to people, not goods — and not to U.S. citizens and their immediate family members. The directive covers most foreign citizens who had been in Europe’s passportfree travel zone — the socalled Schengen area — at any point in the 14 days before seeking to travel to the United States.
Even in its diluted form, the order appeared to be another instance of Trump catching allies unawares with a major policy decision, and markets plunged anew in Europe and the United States, intensifying fears of a global recession linked to the outbreak.
“The European Union disapproves of the fact that the U.S. decision to impose a travel ban was taken unilaterally and without consultation,” European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a joint statement.
The leaders called the spread of the coronavirus “a global crisis, not limited to any continent,” saying it
“requires cooperation rather than unilateral action.” And they took exception to Trump’s characterization of a lax European response, saying the EU is “taking strong action to limit the spread of the virus.”
Some former diplomats and analysts suggested that the president’s announcement was an attempt to blame outsiders rather than explaining how the U.S. administration intended to combat the threat.
“Trump needed a narrative to exonerate his administration from any responsibility in the crisis,” Gerard Araud, a former French ambassador to the United States, wrote on Twitter. “The foreigner is always a good scapegoat.”
Some prominent Europe watchers said Trump, who frequently denigrates the European Union, appeared to be once again taking aim at the bloc, although the countries subject to restrictions do not precisely overlap with EU membership.
“This is not about containment, this is about sending a political message,” Benjamin Haddad, director of the Future Europe Initiative at the Atlantic Council, wrote on Twitter. “In a time when the EU is challenged to its core, the U.S. is closing its borders and turning its back on allies.”
Particularly in the initial confusion that followed Trump’s address, travelers were distressed. Jake Ranieri and Tessa Reed, both 20-year-old University of Iowa students, were heading home after their exchange program in San Sebastian, Spain, was canceled.
Then, in the middle of their night in Europe, came word of Trump’s travel restrictions. Reed was asleep, but awoke to “60 missed calls,” which she called “the scariest thing to wake up to.”
The two managed to get tickets out and had only an hour to say goodbye to their host families. Waiting in line at the airport in nearby Bilbao, both wore face masks.
“My eyes are puffy,” said Reed. “I’ve been crying all morning.”
Even some of the president’s former aides have been publicly critical of his move, calling it a distraction and a misdirection of resources.
“There’s little value to European travel restrictions,” Trump’s former homeland security adviser Tom Bossert wrote on Twitter, calling the White Houseannounced measures “poor use of time & energy.”