Washington (AFP)

The U.S. economy needs Atlantic flights: In the United States, employers are urging the Biden administration to immediately lift travel restrictions imposed on Europeans, while investment from the old continent fell by about a third last year.

EU countries have decided to reopen their borders to the Americans, but if the Covid-19s are vaccinated or tested negative, the United States will close them, which is now causing annoyance to the business world.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Friday criticized the lack of complementarity and took over the torch, urging the government to allow European travelers to return “as soon as possible.”

Marjorie Chorlins, vice president in charge of European affairs, argued that “the resumption of the Atlantic voyage with complete security is crucial to the economic recovery of the United States.”

Since March 2020, travelers from the Shenzhen area, the United Kingdom and Ireland have been barred from entering the United States.

This “travel ban” has been in effect in South Africa, Brazil, China, India and Iran since different dates.

“Personal business interventions and international tourism will help Americans across the country grow economically and create jobs,” Chorlins said.

– “interconnected” –

Stavros Lambrinidis, the European Union’s ambassador to the United States, told AFP that Brussels was “pushing for conflict” and emphasizing economic needs.

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“Our economies and populations are interconnected, our immunization rates are the highest in the world, and opening this side of the Atlantic Ocean safely is crucial, and we are both resuming our economies,” he added.

During Joe Biden’s visit to Europe last week, it was already remembered that the EU / US economic partnership is the largest bilateral trade relationship in the world, representing at least 42% of global GDP and world trade in goods and services.

This did not convince the American president that the Europeans should return to the United States.

Yet beyond trade, huge investments are at risk.

– “Spine” –

“Mutual Investment (…) is the real backbone of the Atlantic economy,” said the authors of the 2021 Report on the Atlantic Ocean Economy, co-authored by the American Chamber of Commerce, Amcham EU, Jones University, Hopkins and Wilson. Center.

Over time, they “have become indispensable for employment and European and American prosperity,” she says.

About 60 percent of FDI inflows into the United States in the first three quarters of 2020 remain in Europe.

But with the annualization of these data, these investments fell from $ 120 billion in 2019 to $ 81 billion in 2020, down 32.5 percent.

Hence the mobilization of the Chamber of Commerce when half of 2021 is already completed.

During a visit to France on Friday, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken expressed hope that the Europeans would visit the United States again soon.

“I hope this happens quickly. We really need it,” he said. “I expect it to be weeks rather than months.”

However, he was quick to point out that Delta, a variant of the virus, was the first to emerge in India and is actively spreading in the West.

“We are certainly concerned about the Delta variant and are closely monitoring its development,” said Ambassador Stavros Lambrinidis.

He says people who have been fully vaccinated are “well protected” from these variants.

Instead of closing borders, he recommends immunization, vigilance, and the maintenance of barrier gestures.

Airlines insist on safe travel by air.

“Numerous scientific studies validate that air travel is less likely to be transmitted,” a United Airlines spokesman said.

As the vaccine becomes more widely available, it is time to implement a reopening strategy to benefit the economy and the traveling public, ”she added.

Indications are that United believes in the immediate reopening of the US border: the company has added flights to France, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Iceland and Portugal.

© 2021 AFP