President Trump delivers remarks to the news media during the meeting, on March 11. (AFP photo)
BRUSSELS: The European Union on Thursday lashed out at President Donald Trump’s “unilateral” decision to restrict travel from Europe to the United States over the coronavirus, saying that the illness doesn’t respect borders.
Trump has called the disease a “foreign virus” and claimed that US clusters were “seeded” by European travelers. He announced that all European travel would be cut off, but US officials later said that restrictions would apply only to most foreign citizens who have been in Europe’s passport-free travel zone at any point for 14 days prior to their arrival to the United States.
“The European Union disapproves of the fact that the US 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 coronavirus is a global crisis, not limited to any continent and it requires cooperation rather than unilateral action,” the two said.
They rejected Trump’s suggestio