President Trump Plans New Travel Ban Targeting Up To 43 Countries

In the near future, President Trump is expected to issue a new travel ban, targeting citizens of certain countries. While the details haven’t officially been announced, The New York Times has info on the plan that’s reportedly under consideration…

What we know about Trump’s planned travel ban

When he took office on January 20, 2025, Trump issued an executive order, asking the State Department to identify countries “for which vetting and screening information is so deficient as to warrant a partial or full suspension on the admission of nationals from those countries.”

Based on what we know so far, the Trump administration is considering targeting as many as 43 countries for this new ban, with restrictions that are broader than the travel ban he imposed during his first term. The draft list of travel ban countries falls into three categories.

There would be a “red list,” whereby travel to the United States would be restricted for citizens of foreign countries. These countries are expected to include Afghanistan, Bhutan, Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, Venezuela, and Yemen.

Then there would be the “orange list,” whereby visas from these countries would be sharply restricted. These countries are expected to include Belarus, Eritrea, Haiti, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Russia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, and Turkmenistan.

Lastly, there would be the “yellow list,” where countries would have 60 days to address concerns, or else they would face new travel restrictions. These countries are expected to include Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, Dominica, Equatorial Guinea, Gambia, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, Sao Tome and Principe, Vanuatu, and Zimbabwe.

Let me emphasize that this list has reportedly been created by the State Department weeks ago, so remains subject to change before the White House implements new policies. Trump asked the State Department to complete this list within 60 days of January 20, so that’s coming up within the next week. Some countries might be removed from the list due to policy reasons, like not risking disruption to cooperation, or some other priority.

I’m curious to see what the final list looks like…

In 2017, we saw Trump impose his first travel ban, an executive order titled “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States.” This included banning travel for people from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.

As you can see, the new list of countries is potentially quite a bit bigger. As The New York Times describes it, the countries on the list are “generally Muslim-majority or otherwise nonwhite, poor and have governments that are considered weak or corrupt.”

Some countries on the list certainly stand out:

• On the “red list,” the peaceful nation of Bhutan doesn’t fit in with the rest of the countries; I guess the government doesn’t think it has enough information to vet people, but you couldn’t pick a more pleasant or safe country
• It’s interesting to see Russia potentially included on any sort of list, and it’ll be telling whether or not the final order ends up including the country or not…
• With Trump’s efforts to deport undocumented migrants to Venezuela, one wonders if a travel ban might cause tensions that gets in the way of government cooperation

Bottom line

President Trump is expected to announce a new travel ban soon. While nothing has been finalized, we now have a sense of the countries that will likely be on the list. It’s expected that the list will consist of three kinds of countries, with some including an outright travel ban, and others including partial restrictions on the issuance of visas.