Coronavirus & Trump's ban on flights from Europe

Coronavirus & Trump's ban on flights from Europe | Allyship & the UK | Europe In :60 | GZERO Media

Carl Bildt, former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Sweden, provides his perspective:

First, how did Europe react to the flight ban for Europe that President Trump announced on March 11?

Well badly, to put it very mildly. The decision was evidently taken it without any consultation, without any information whatsoever. The leaders of the EU got the information by watching the television, and that's not really the way things are done between friends and allies. And add to that that we are facing a global situation that requires cooperation and coordination. And this was not particularly good.

Second question, why was the United Kingdom excluded from that?

Well, you can speculate about that. Difficult to see any objective reasons for it. It is probably a more political move in the sense that President Trump is not known as a leading friend of the European Union and wants to give sort of some sort of advantage to the United Kingdom. But effectively, of course, the danger if there is any such coming from Europe is as great from the United Kingdom as from anywhere else.

More from GZERO Media

A cargo ship is loading and unloading foreign trade containers at Qingdao Port in Qingdao City, Shandong Province, China on May 7, 2025.
Photo by CFOTO/Sipa USA

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer will meet with their Chinese counterparts in Geneva on Saturday in a bid to ease escalating trade tensions that have led to punishing tariffs of up to 145%. Ahead of the meetings, Trump said that he expects tariffs to come down.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer speaks on the phone to US President Donald Trump at a car factory in the West Midlands, United Kingdom, on May 8, 2025.
Alberto Pezzali/Pool via REUTERS

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer achieved what his Conservative predecessors couldn’t.

The newly elected Pope Leo XIV (r), US-American Robert Prevost, appears on the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican after the conclave.

On Thursday, Robert Francis Prevost was elected the 267th pope of the Roman Catholic Church, taking the name Pope Leo XIV and becoming the first American pontiff — defying widespread assumptions that a US candidate was a long shot.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson talks with reporters in the US Capitol on May 8, 2025.

Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call/Sipa USA

US House Speaker Mike Johnson is walking a tightrope on Medicaid — and wobbling.

US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney meet in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, D.C., USA, on May 6, 2025.
REUTERS/Leah Millis

The first official meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and US President Donald Trump was friendlier than you might expect given the recent tensions in the relationship.