Biden to regulate travel from China after previously calling Trump xenophobic

The White House announced Wednesday it will require travelers from China to test negative for COVID-19 prior to arrival in the U.S. — a policy that will come less than two years after candidate Joe Biden suggested then-President Donald Trump's restrictions on travel from China were xenophobic. 

A federal official said the test requirement will begin Jan. 5 and is necessary due to the lack of public data on China's effectiveness in monitoring COVID-19. Travelers from China, regardless of nationality, will need to show a negative test taken no more than two days prior to their flight. Japan and India have established similar restrictions as China has loosened its "zero-Covid" lockdown policies in recent weeks — and China requires travelers from the U.S. to test negative. 

Trump in January 2020 announced a plan to restrict travel from China in response to the initial COVID-19 virus spread. Hours after the announcement, Biden, on the campaign trail in Iowa, said, "This is no time for Donald Trump’s record of hysterical xenophobia and fear-mongering to lead the way instead of science." He used the same wording in a tweet the next day.