PARIS — European lawmakers and business groups voiced mounting criticism of the Biden administration on Tuesday, after the White House said its restrictions on international travel would remain in place for the time being.

Whereas vaccinated U.S. tourists have been allowed to return to much of Europe for weeks, most Europeans continue to be unable to travel to the United States under a ban that was first imposed by President Donald Trump in March 2020.

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But the delta variant has long been in the United States, already accounting for the majority of new known cases, and many European nations are now starting to outpace the United States in vaccinations: 49 percent of Americans are fully inoculated, compared to more than 46 percent of European Union residents. Both have similar per capita coronavirus case numbers.

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Some experts said the cautious U.S. approach may be based on legitimate public health concerns about particular European countries. But in countries such as Germany, where the ratio of fully vaccinated people is now higherthan in the United States, the White House announcement prompted disbelief among many.

There is “no logical scientific explanation” for the U.S. approach, RND, one of Europe’s largest local news providers, concluded in an editorialon Tuesday, describing the practice as a political scandal and evoking a “wall in the middle of the Atlantic.”

“From a public health perspective, the entry ban makes little sense if Americans can travel and catch the virus, and given that tests could provide a reasonable solution,” said Tobias Kurth, a German public health expert.