The United States reopens its borders, the return to activity will be gradual

The American borders are opening. As of Monday, November 8, Europeans, when they are vaccinated against Covid, will once again be able to travel freely in the United States. This had not happened since… March 2020, when Donald Trump had banned entry into the territory of any non-American who had circulated in the previous two weeks in the Schengen area. Other countries had also been subject to this American “travel ban” on various dates, including China, India and Brazil. In September, under diplomatic pressure, the White House announced that these geographical criteria, which no longer made any sense of health, were replaced by an obligation of vaccination.

The opening of American borders to the main partner countries hardly moves macroeconomists. “We can have an effect on growth at the margin, but the recovery will be very gradual and relative to the size of the US economy, international exports of travel-related services have only weighed 0.3% of the economy. US GDP last year, ”points out Gregory Daco, chief US economist at Oxford Economics. The shortfall remains impressive: in 2019, these service exports, which represent the amounts spent by international visitors to the United States (including students), were almost three times greater, at $ 200 billion.

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