US, Canada and Mexico borders to stay closed
In this file photo, vehicles wait at the Canadian border after the US-Canada border has been closed to all non-essential travel in Lansdowne, Ontario, on March 22, 2020. Canada and the United States are preparing to extend the closure of their border to non-essential travel because of the coronavirus pandemic until August 21, 2020.
The US, Canada and Mexico are poised to extend their agreements to keep their shared borders closed to non-essential travel to August 21.
The agreements would extend the closures by another 30 days.
A person familiar with the matter said final confirmation of the US, Canada agreement has yet occurred but is likely.
The official was not authorized to speak publicly ahead of an announcement this week, and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The restrictions were announced on March 18 and were extended in April, May and again in June.
Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said via Twitter on Tuesday that “after reviewing the development of the spread of COVID-19,” Mexico had proposed to the US government that they extended the restrictions on ground travel at the US-Mexico border for 30 more days.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said a decision on the border would be announced later this week.
“We’re going to continue to work hard to keep Canadians safe and to keep our economies flowing,” Trudeau said. “And we will have more to say later.”
Mexican Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said last Friday that an reopening between the US and Mexico “would not be prudent right now,” given that coronavirus cases in “the states of the southern United States, California, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas, are on the rise.”
