Donald Trump took early action to ban travel from China

The argument

Donald Trump took swift action to reduce travel from China in January and enhanced airport screenings to stop people with coronavirus from entering the United States for as long as possible. In his State of the Union address on 4th February 2020, Trump pledged to “take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from the virus."

Premises

Counter-arguments

The China travel restriction drove travelers from China to instead enter the United States via Europe instead, leading to a spike in cases of coronavirus in the United States. The Associated Press reported that more than 8,000 Chinese and foreign nationals based in those territories entered America in the first three months after Trump's travel restrictions were imposed. More than 27,000 Americans returned from mainland China in the first month after the restrictions came into place. Yet US officials lost track of more than 1,600 of them who were supposed to be monitored for virus exposure, leading to outbreaks in the spread of the virus.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Early is not the same as effective: the restriction did not cover arrivals from Europe, so travellers routed through third countries, and officials lost track of a substantial number of returning travellers who were meant to be monitored for exposure. [Rejecting P2] A pledge to take all necessary steps records an intention rather than an action, and the argument names no measure after January against which the pledge can be tested.