Trudeau Says The US Can 'Make Its Own Decisions' About Letting Canadians Cross The Border
American officials have restricted non-essential travel by Canadians for another month.
When it comes to decisions around the reopening of the Canada-U.S. border, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that the U.S. doesn't have to exactly match what Canada is doing.
Hours after it was announced on August 20 that the U.S. had extended restrictions on non-essential travel by Canadians until September 21, Trudeau was asked about the coordination between the two countries.
"We will work together as much as possible to coordinate to make sure things are going well, but every country gets to make its own decisions about how to best keep their citizens safe," he said.
Even though Canada has been letting in fully vaccinated Americans for non-essential travel since August 9, the U.S. hasn't done the same. Trudeau reiterated that this "asymmetry in the arrangements" of travel rules isn't new because Canadians could fly to the U.S. throughout the pandemic while Americans couldn't come to Canada.
"We have moved forward with an exception for fully vaccinated Americans and, as of September, fully vaccinated people from around the world because we know that this fourth wave is one that's affecting unvaccinated or under-vaccinated people and the risk of welcoming in people who are fully vaccinated is minimal. But we continue to monitor it carefully," he said.
Trudeau also noted that Canada will be continuing its restrictions for unvaccinated travellers.