US-Canada border to remain closed for another 30 days, Trudeau says

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Saturday that Canada and the United States had agreed to keep their border closed for all nonessential travel for another 30 days.

“Canada and the United States have agreed to extend by another 30 days the border measures that are currently in place,” Trudeau said during televised remarks.

He said the move will “keep people on both sides of the border safe.”

The two countries temporarily closed their shared border March 18.

The U.S. has imposed a range of measures to limit the entrance of foreign nationals from areas hit hard by the coronavirus, including China and Europe.

The majority of Canadians live in areas close to the 5,500-mile U.S. border, and communities on both sides of the frontier maintain close links.

The U.S. and Canada have daily trade worth about $2 billion. U.S. goods and services trade with Canada totaled an estimated $718.5 billion in 2018, according to U.S. trade authorities.