Restrictions on nonessential travel across the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada are set to expire on May 21.
At this newspaper’s deadline, it was unclear whether this measure would be extended, although this seems likely since Mexico’s health emergency will remain in place until May 31, and Canadian premiers appear cautious about lifting the restrictions.
The temporary closure of the borders do not target the crossing of merchandise, and only apply to people traveling for tourism, social or cultural purposes. They do not affect citizens or legal residents returning to their home countries, or individuals requiring medical attention.
The arguments for reopening the borders to everyone are considerable. Cross-border traffic will increase exponentially as the three countries’ economies slowly kick back into gear over the coming weeks. And tourism sector representatives, in particular, are pleading with their governments to cut them some slack in getting back to some semblance of normality.
The Trump administration appears to have no immediate plans to reopen the country’s southern border to “non-essential” persons. The U.S. president recently tweeted that Mexico was having “big coronavirus problems” despite the country’s number of cases being about one-third of the U.S. death toll. (This may have had more to do with extolling the virtues of his “beautiful” wall than health concerns, commentators suggested.)
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