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 The 30-day extension came after Canada announced its own extension
on Friday of the requirements that were set to expire on Monday and
have been in place since March 2020 because of the coronavirus
pandemic.
The U.S. government held working-group meetings with Canada and
Mexico on the travel restrictions last week and plans to hold
meetings about every two weeks, U.S. officials told Reuters.
Homeland Security said in a statement it noted "positive
developments in recent weeks and is participating with other U.S.
agencies in the White House’s expert working groups with Canada and
Mexico to identify the conditions under which restrictions may be
eased safely and sustainably."
Some U.S. lawmakers and border communities that have been hit hard
by the restrictions have pushed to relax them ahead of the busy
summer travel season.
Canada is also under pressure from companies and the tourism
industry to ease the ban, which was imposed to help contain the
spread of the coronavirus and has been renewed on a monthly basis
since March 2020.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stood firm, saying last week
the border would stay largely shut until 75% of Canadians had
received the first of a two-dose coronavirus vaccine and 20% had
been given both shots.
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 In talks between the United
States and Canada last week, the U.S. government
did not endorse setting a specific threshold to
trigger lifting the restrictions, a person
briefed on the talks said. "The
inability of the U.S. and Canadian governments to reach an agreement
on alleviating border restrictions ... is simply unacceptable,"
Democratic Representative Brian Higgins and Republican
Representative Bill Huizenga, co-chairs of the Canada-U.S.
Interparliamentary Group said on Friday.
The United States is also holding working-group meetings on relaxing
travel restrictions with the UK and the European Union, but U.S. and
airline officials said previously they did not expect the Biden
administration to lift the restrictions until around July 4 at the
earliest.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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