President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is strongly considering a ban on travel from Brazil, where his close ally Jair Bolsonaro dismisses the danger of the coronavirus.
Trump told a White House press conference he is “absolutely looking at a ban” on travel to the United States from Latin America’s biggest country.
Bolsonaro, who has modeled himself on Trump and sought to bring Brazil into a close partnership with the United States, has caused controversy by claiming that the coronavirus pandemic is no more than a “little flu.”
The Trump administration has already barred travel from major US economic partners including China and the European Union as part of a global effort to halt the spread of the virus.
Despite a rising number of cases reported in Brazil, Bolsonaro is actively promoting his belief that people should continue to work and travel, saying the country should face the virus “like a man, damn it, not a boy.”