Fact Check: Joe Biden Did Oppose Trump’s Travel Ban on China

CLAIM: Vice President Mike Pence says Democrat presidential candidate Joe Biden opposed President Trump’s travel ban on China at the earliest stages of the Chinese coronavirus crisis.

VERDICT: True. In January, Biden called Trump’s travel ban on China to slow the spread of the Chinese coronavirus “hysterical xenophobia.”

Pence said in the debate:

Before there were more than five cases in the United States, all people who had returned from China, President Donald Trump did what no other American president had ever done and that was he suspended all travel from China — the second largest economy in the world. Now, Senator Joe Biden opposed that decision. He said it was ‘xenophobic’ and ‘hysterical.’

“That decision, alone, by President Trump bought us invaluable time … and I believe it saved hundreds of thousands of American lives,” Pence continued.

During a campaign event on January 31, the day Trump banned travel from China, Biden referred to Trump’s plan as “hysterical xenophobia.”

We are in the midst of a crisis with the coronavirus. We need to lead the way with science — not Donald Trump’s record of hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering. He is the worst possible person to lead our country through a global health emergency.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) February 1, 2020

In March, Biden said, “Banning all travel from Europe — or any other part of the world — will not stop it. That same month, Biden’s coronavirus plan did not include travel bans on any country, regardless of their rate of spread of the virus.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter at @JxhnBinder.