Restrictions on life in Canada due to COVID-19 are increasing. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the partial closure of the Canada-United States border during a news conference in front of his home March 18.
President Donald Trump confirmed the closure as mutual earlier in the morning on Twitter. Trudeau said essential travel between the two countries will continue to ensure things like food and medicine can flow freely.
“We understand that it's very important for the border to remain open, because we're talking about $2 billion worth of goods that cross that border every single day,” Trudeau said.
“It is critical, not just for the health of our economy, but for the health of our citizens that that continues to be the case.”
Cross-border trade between Manitoba and the United States was over $25 billion in 2018.
No timeframe was announced for the closure, but Trudeau said the measure would be enacted “very soon.”
“This is something that we've been coordinating with the United States on over the past days,” Trudeau said.
"Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister [Chrystia] Freeland reached out to Vice President [Mike] Pence to really advance these negotiations, and we're able to announce it in a coordinated fashion on both sides of the border this morning.”
Freeland later said that the closure could come within "hours or days".
The federal government has not restricted travel inside Canada or enacted the Emergencies Act, an authorization of special temporary measures in case of disaster that has never been enacted.
“We're not taking any options off the table,” Trudeau said.
“Every day, we've been announcing new measures that we've been able to move forward on and we will continue to look at measures as they become necessary.”
Trudeau also announced $82 billion in new support for Canadians who are affected by the virus or not eligible for E.I.
