In retaliation for US President Donald Trump’s decision to forbid their citizens from entering the US visa this month, Mali and Burkinabe have announced they will impose full visa bans on their citizens.
The two West African nations are the latest to impose “tit-for-tat” visa restrictions on the US, which are both governed by the military. These are in addition to Trump’s new visa restrictions, which are currently in effect for 39 African, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Latin American nations. According to the White House, they were put in place for “national security” reasons.
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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation informs the country and the world that the government of the Republic of Mali will immediately impose the same restrictions and requirements on American citizens as they do for Malian citizens, according to a statement from the ministry.
Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore, the foreign minister of Burkinabe, referenced a reciprocity rule in a separate statement regarding the visa ban in his country.
Which nations have outlawed US citizens from applying for visas?
Laos, Niger, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Syria are among the countries that are currently exempt from US visa restrictions, as announced in the US directive on December 16.
The Palestinian Authority’s travel documents were also prohibited from entering the US as a result of the order.
For the reason for the ban, the US cited the countries’ poor screening and vetting capabilities, information-sharing practices, visa overstay rates, and refusal to accept back their deported citizens.
Countries were also surveyed based on their “significant terrorist presence,” according to Trump’s order, which included a list of nations.
On Thursday, the US ban will become effective.
For years, armed groups affiliated with al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) have been using violence in Mali, Burkinabe, and neighboring Niger. Millions of civilians have been displaced by the violence there.
Niger imposed a ban on entry for US citizens on Friday, citing the US’s ban on citizens as well. Similar to its neighbors Mali and Burkinabe, the nation is also militarily governed. In order to address security issues and strengthen trade relations, all three formed the Alliance of Sahel States in July 2024.
With an exception for US officials, Chad stopped issuing visas to Americans on June 6 in its own reciprocal move. Prior to June 9, only US citizens who were issued visas are now permitted to enter the country.
The United States was first listed among the 12 countries whose citizens the Trump administration imposed a full visa ban on starting June 9.
Which nations are impacted by the ban on US visas?
According to the US-based Council on Foreign Relations think tank, citizens of 39 nations are currently subject to full or partial immigration restrictions.
Those that are completely prohibited are:
- Afghanistan
- Burkinabe
- Chad
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Haiti
- Iran
- Laos
- Libya
- Mali
- Myanmar
- Niger
- Congo Republic
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- South Sudan
- Sudan
- Syria
- Yemen
- Additionally, Palestinian Authority travelers’ travel documents are essentially prohibited.
Those who are partially restricted are:
- Angola
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Benin
- Burundi
- Cuba
- Dominica
- Gabon
- Gambia
- Ivory Coast
- Malawi
- Mauritania
- Nigeria
- Senegal
- Tanzania
- Togo
- Tonga
- Turkmenistan
- Venezuela
- Zambia
- Zimbabwe
Trump specifically aims to ban visas in Africa.
In his second term as president of the United States, Trump addressed the issue of visa entry for people from three African countries, including Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, with the exception of his first administration’s “Muslim ban.”
Sudan was added while Chad was added in later versions of the ban.
Since Trump’s election on January 20, most nations have been subject to US entry restrictions. 26 of the 39 affected nations are African.
How have trade relations between the US and Africa changed under Trump?
Tradewise, the US has switched from its preferential African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade regime to a tariff-based tariff-based system, which has also been used by most other countries worldwide as a result of Trump’s tariffs policy.
From 2000, AGOA granted African nations duty-free access to US markets, boosting their ability to export a range of goods, including cars and wine.
According to the US-based Center for Strategic International Studies, AGOA created 300, 000 jobs in African nations and indirectly sustained another 1.2 million.
However, AGOA expired in September as a result of the US Congress’s delaying. No steps have been taken to revive the program despite the Trump administration’s declaration that it supports a one-year extension.
Instead, tariffs are frequently high for African nations because the US occasionally uses political justifications to justify them.
For instance, after Trump refuted claims that there was a “genocide” against the country’s white Afrikaner minority, South Africa, the richest nation, was subject to a 30% tariff. Since then, the US government has given Afrikaners’ resettlement as refugees priority.
When Trump met with him at the White House in May, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa explained that crime in the nation targeted the entire population, not just its white citizens. However, he was unable to persuade him.
In a bid to compete with China, which processes 90% of the world’s rare earth metals and mines about 60% of them, Trump’s administration is also giving priority to its access to crucial rare earth minerals, which are used to create high-tech devices.
Following the DRC government’s suggestion to negotiate a minerals deal with the US, Trump stepped up as a mediator in the conflict between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and neighboring Rwanda this year. Rwanda is accused by the US and the UN of supporting an M23-led rebellion in the eastern DRC.
Trump, who underwent diplomatic pressure on Rwanda on December 4, successfully secured a peace agreement between the two nations. He did not agree to US military action in the DRC.
Despite the peace agreement, M23 continues to attack civilians.
The DRC’s and Rwanda’s mineral reserves, which include cobalt, copper, lithium, and gold, were granted to US companies with a provision in the pact.
What about collaborating in security and aid?
Many African nations who were incredibly dependent on the US Agency for International Development, the largest donor of humanitarian and medical aid, were affected by the Trump administration’s decision to close the US Agency for International Development in early 2025.
Since then, Somalia, northern Kenya, and northeastern Kenya have reported rising hunger.
Additionally, health experts and analysts have raised concerns about the potential harm to efforts to stop and stop the spread of HIV in Lesotho and South Africa.
Officials in northern Cameroon have discovered a rise in malaria deaths as a result of decreased drug supplies. Under the condition that Cameroon raises its own annual health spending from $22 million to $450 million, the US unilaterally pledged $400 million in health funding to the nation over the next five years.
When Trump recalled 30 career diplomats from 29 nations last week, former president Joe Biden was also among the most seriously affected African countries.
Algeria, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Egypt, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia, and Uganda were the 15 of them who were stationed in Africa.
Similar to the strikes carried out by Trump during his first term in office, which included those against ISIL and al-Qaeda, between 2017 and 2021.
According to the US-based New America Foundation think tank, the US launched strikes in Somalia in September in response to al-Shabab and the ISIL affiliate in Somalia Province.
On Thursday, the US made its first offensive against ISIL and al-Qaeda-linked groups in northwest Nigeria.
The two nations engaged in a narrative war even though those strikes were carried out in collaboration with the Nigerian government.
The US claims to be “saving” Nigerian Christians from a genocide.
Source: Aljazeera
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