The European Union condemned President Donald Trump’s restrictions on travel between the United States and Europe announced at a messy Oval Office address that tanked markets and sent travelers into panic.
In a joint statement, European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the E.U. was not alerted to Trump’s decision to restrict travel, which he said was necessary to combat the “foreign virus,” according to New York post(March 12).
“The Coronavirus is a global crisis, not limited to any continent and it requires cooperation rather than unilateral action,” they wrote. “The European Union disapproves of the fact that the U.S. decision to impose a travel ban was taken unilaterally and without consultation.”
“The European Union is taking strong action to limit the spread of the virus,” they added.
In his Oval Office address, Trump repeatedly misstated the details of policies being enacted to curb the spread of coronavirus, requiring major clarifications to his remarks from the White House.
An hour after his speech concluded, the Department of Homeland Security clarified that the travel ban would not apply to U.S. citizens or permanent residents abroad. Ireland, along with England, was also exempted from the ban. And unlike what Trump said in his speech, the ban would apply only to people, not cargo.