What the Trump travel ban means for the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympic Games
GENEVA: US President Donald Trump often says the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics are among the events he is most excited about in his second term.
Yet there is significant uncertainty regarding visa policies for foreign visitors planning trips to the US for the two biggest events in sports.
Trump's latest travel ban on citizens from 12 countries added new questions about the impact on the World Cup and the Summer Olympics, which depend on hosts opening their doors to the world.
Here's a look at the potential effects of the travel ban on those events.
What is the travel ban policy?
For the latest updates, follow us @ArabNewsSport
They are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
Tighter restrictions will apply to visitors from seven more: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.
Trump said some countries had 'deficient' screening and vetting processes or have historically refused to take back their own citizens.
How does it affect the World Cup and Olympics?
Iran, a soccer power in Asia, is the only targeted country to qualify so far for the World Cup being co-hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico in one year's time.
Cuba, Haiti and Sudan are in contention. Sierra Leone might stay involved through multiple playoff games. Burundi, Equatorial Guinea and Libya have very outside shots.
But all should be able to send teams to the World Cup if they qualify because the new policy makes exceptions for 'any athlete or member of an athletic team, including coaches, persons performing a necessary support role, and immediate relatives, traveling for the World Cup, Olympics, or other major sporting event as determined by the secretary of state.'
About 200 countries could send athletes to the Summer Games, including those targeted by the latest travel restrictions. The exceptions should apply to them as well if the ban is still in place in its current form.
What about fans?
The travel ban doesn't mention any exceptions for fans from the targeted countries wishing to travel to the US for the World Cup or Olympics.
Even before the travel ban, fans of the Iran soccer team living in that country already had issues about getting a visa for a World Cup visit.
Still, national team supporters often profile differently to fans of club teams who go abroad for games in international competitions like the UEFA Champions League.
For many countries, fans traveling to the World Cup — an expensive travel plan with hiked flight and hotel prices — are often from the diaspora, wealthier, and could have different passport options.
A World Cup visitor is broadly higher-spending and lower-risk for host nation security planning.
Visitors to an Olympics are often even higher-end clients, though tourism for a Summer Games is significantly less than at a World Cup, with fewer still from most of the 19 countries now targeted.
How is the US working with FIFA, Olympic officials?
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has publicly built close ties since 2018 to Trump — too close according to some. He has cited the need to ensure FIFA's smooth operations at a tournament that will earn a big majority of the soccer body's expected $13 billion revenue from 2023-26.
Infantino sat next to Trump at the White House task force meeting on May 6 which prominently included Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. FIFA's top delegate on the task force is Infantino ally Carlos Cordeiro, a former Goldman Sachs partner whose two-year run as US Soccer Federation president ended in controversy in 2020.
Any visa and security issues FIFA faces — including at the 32-team Club World Cup that kicks off next week in Miami — can help LA Olympics organizers finesse their plans.
'It was very clear in the directive that the Olympics require special consideration and I actually want to thank the federal government for recognizing that,' LA28 chairman and president Casey Wasserman said Thursday in Los Angeles.
'It's very clear that the federal government understands that that's an environment that they will be accommodating and provide for,' he said. 'We have great confidence that that will only continue. It has been the case to date and it will certainly be the case going forward through the games.'
In March, at an IOC meeting in Greece, Wasserman said he had two discreet meetings with Trump and noted the State Department has a 'fully staffed desk' to help prepare for short-notice visa processing in the summer of 2028 — albeit with a focus on teams rather than fans.
IOC member Nicole Hoevertsz, who is chair of the Coordination Commission for LA28, expressed 'every confidence' that the US government will cooperate, as it did in hosting previous Olympics.
'That is something that we will be definitely looking at and making sure that it is guaranteed as well,' she said. 'We are very confident that this is going to be accomplished. I'm sure this is going to be executed well.'
FIFA didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about the new Trump travel ban.
What have other host nations done?
The 2018 World Cup host Russia let fans enter the country with a game ticket doubling as their visa. So did Qatar four years later.
Both governments, however, also performed background checks on all visitors coming to the month-long soccer tournaments.
Governments have refused entry to unwelcome visitors. For the 2012 London Olympics, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko — who is still its authoritarian leader today — was denied a visa despite also leading its national Olympic body. The IOC also suspended him from the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Asharq Al-Awsat
39 minutes ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
US Labor Market Slows Despite Job Adds in May
The United States added 139,000 jobs in May, more than expected but pointing to a labor market that continues to slow. The employment data released Friday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics exceeded forecasts for about 120,000 payroll gains but marked a decline from the revised 147,000 jobs added in April. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.2%, remaining near historic lows. Stocks surged at Friday's open, with all three major indexes gaining about 1%. In return, US government borrowing costs climbed as investors anticipated the Federal Reserve would keep interest rates higher for longer, making it less attractive to hold US debt. The BLS report showed job losses in the federal government continued to pile up, with that sector shedding 22,000 roles in May alone. The federal workforce is down by 59,000 since January, largely due to sweeping cuts by the Trump administration and multibillionaire tech executive Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency project. Even as the economy continued to add jobs at a relatively steady clip last month, the report showed other signs of a weakening labor market. The ratio of employed workers to the total population fell to 59.7%, its lowest since the pandemic. An alternative measure of unemployment that includes 'discouraged' workers, or those who have stopped looking for work, returned to a post-pandemic high of 4.5%. But President Donald Trump cheered the numbers, posting on his Truth Social platform Friday morning: 'AMERICA IS HOT! SIX MONTHS AGO IT WAS COLD AS ICE! BORDER IS CLOSED, PRICES ARE DOWN. WAGES ARE UP!' Trump had urged Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to slash interest rates by a full percentage point. 'Too Late' at the Fed is a disaster!' Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social. In reality, employers added 212,000 jobs in November, unemployment was at 4.1%, the 12-month average of hourly pay gains have softened from nearly 4.2% then to 3.9% in May, and both the labor force participation rate and the employment-to-population ratio were slightly higher. Only consumer prices have meaningfully cooled, ticking down from an annual inflation rate of 2.7% in November to 2.3% in April, the latest month with available data. Analysts at Capital Economics called the May jobs report 'not as good as it looks.' Still, they wrote in a note Friday, 'it shows that tariffs are having little negative impact' and added that the Federal Reserve is likely to continue holding interest rates steady 'while it assesses the effects of policy changes on the economy.'
Asharq Al-Awsat
an hour ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Iran Orders Material from China to Produce 800 Ballistic Missiles
Iran has ordered thousands of tons of ballistic-missile ingredients from China, people familiar with the transaction told The Wall Street Journal, seeking to rebuild its military prowess as it discusses the future of its nuclear program with the US. The report, which cited people familiar with the transaction, said Tehran had ordered enough ammonium perchlorate to potentially manufacture up to 800 missiles. It said the material is used to produce solid-fuel missiles. 'Shipments of ammonium perchlorate are expected to reach Iran in coming months and could fuel hundreds of ballistic missiles,' the people said. Some of the material would likely be sent to militias in the region aligned with Iran, including Houthis in Yemen. According to the Journal, Iran's drive to expand its missile stockpile and strengthen its regional proxies comes as it continues to enrich uranium to levels just below weapons grade and has refused to place limits on its missile development as part of nuclear negotiations. President Donald Trump said he discussed the issue during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin 'Time is running out on Iran's decision pertaining to nuclear weapons,' Trump wrote Wednesday in a social-media post. Part of rebuilding Iran's 'Axis of Resistance' The shipment of ammonium perchlorate is part of Iran's broader efforts to rebuild its so-called "Axis of Resistance" network. The ammonium perchlorate was ordered by an Iranian entity called Pishgaman Tejarat Rafi Novin Co. from the Hong Kong-based Lion Commodities Holdings Ltd, the Journal reported. China's Foreign Ministry told the Journal that Beijing was unaware of a contract for such a shipment. 'The Chinese side has always exercised strict control over dual-use items in accordance with China's export control laws and regulations and its international obligations,' said the spokesperson. Iran has been looking for ways to rebuild its network of regional proxies, the so-called Axis of Resistance, after Israel struck Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and the Assad regime in Syria. While US and Israeli strikes have damaged the Houthis' capabilities in Yemen, they continue to periodically launch missiles at Israel. The Journal said that beyond supporting regional militias, Iran has also reportedly transferred ballistic missiles to Shiite militia groups in Iraq, which have previously targeted both US and Israeli forces in the region. Earlier this year, Iranian ships docked in China to load over 1,000 tons of sodium perchlorate, a precursor for ammonium perchlorate. The material was delivered to Iranian ports in mid-February and late March, according to shipping trackers. This quantity of sodium perchlorate is said to be enough to fuel around 260 short-range missiles. The new order for ammonium perchlorate, which was placed months before President Trump's proposed nuclear talks with Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, in early March, could supply Iran with enough material to produce approximately 800 missiles, one official estimated. In response to Iran's missile activities, the US Treasury Department sanctioned six individuals and six entities from both Iran and China on April 29 for their involvement in procuring ballistic missile propellant ingredients. Two weeks later, the Treasury expanded these sanctions to include additional Chinese and Hong Kong entities. It added sodium perchlorate to its list of materials linked to Iran's military, nuclear, and missile activities. A State Department official said, 'Chinese entities and individuals have provided support to Iran's ballistic missile program, as well as to the Houthis' missile and UAV production efforts, which is why we continue to identify and sanction them.' Possible Threats Fabian Hinz, a military expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said 'Iran likely needs material from abroad to avoid bottlenecks in its domestic production capabilities.' However, storing such materials poses significant risks. In April, a deadly explosion at Shahid Rajaee port, Iran's key container hub, killed dozens. State media attributed the blast to the mishandling of explosive materials by a unit of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force. An official confirmed that some of the previously imported sodium perchlorate was destroyed in the incident. 'These substances are a major fire and explosive hazard,' Hinz warned. 'Iran's defense industrial complex does not have a strong track record in ensuring safety standards.'
Asharq Al-Awsat
3 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
The 911 Presidency: Trump Flexes Emergency Powers in His Second Term
Call it the 911 presidency. Despite insisting that the United States is rebounding from calamity under his watch, President Donald Trump is harnessing emergency powers unlike any of his predecessors. Whether it's leveling punishing tariffs, deploying troops to the border or sidelining environmental regulations, Trump has relied on rules and laws intended only for use in extraordinary circumstances like war and invasion. An analysis by The Associated Press shows that 30 of Trump's 150 executive orders have cited some kind of emergency power or authority, a rate that far outpaces his recent predecessors. The result is a redefinition of how presidents can wield power. Instead of responding to an unforeseen crisis, Trump is using emergency powers to supplant Congress' authority and advance his agenda. 'What's notable about Trump is the enormous scale and extent, which is greater than under any modern president,' said Ilya Somin, who is representing five US businesses who sued the administration, claiming they were harmed by Trump's so-called 'Liberation Day' tariffs. Because Congress has the power to set trade policy under the Constitution, the businesses convinced a federal trade court that Trump overstepped his authority by claiming an economic emergency to impose the tariffs. An appeals court has paused that ruling while the judges review it. Growing concerns over actions The legal battle is a reminder of the potential risks of Trump's strategy. Judges traditionally have given presidents wide latitude to exercise emergency powers that were created by Congress. However, there's growing concern that Trump is pressing the limits when the US is not facing the kinds of threats such actions are meant to address. 'The temptation is clear,' said Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Brennan Center's Liberty and National Security Program and an expert in emergency powers. 'What's remarkable is how little abuse there was before, but we're in a different era now.' Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., who has drafted legislation that would allow Congress to reassert tariff authority, said he believed the courts would ultimately rule against Trump in his efforts to single-handedly shape trade policy. 'It's the Constitution. James Madison wrote it that way, and it was very explicit,' Bacon said of Congress' power over trade. 'And I get the emergency powers, but I think it's being abused. When you're trying to do tariff policy for 80 countries, that's policy, not emergency action.' The White House pushed back on such concerns, saying Trump is justified in aggressively using his authority. 'President Trump is rightfully enlisting his emergency powers to quickly rectify four years of failure and fix the many catastrophes he inherited from Joe Biden — wide open borders, wars in Ukraine and Gaza, radical climate regulations, historic inflation, and economic and national security threats posed by trade deficits,' White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. Trump frequently sites 1977 law to justify actions Of all the emergency powers, Trump has most frequently cited the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, or IEEPA, to justify slapping tariffs on imports. The law, enacted in 1977, was intended to limit some of the expansive authority that had been granted to the presidency decades earlier. It is only supposed to be used when the country faces 'an unusual and extraordinary threat' from abroad 'to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.' In analyzing executive orders issued since 2001, the AP found that Trump has invoked the law 21 times in presidential orders and memoranda. President George W. Bush, grappling with the aftermath of the most devastating terror attack on US soil, invoked the law just 14 times in his first term. Likewise, Barack Obama invoked the act only 21 times during his first term, when the US economy faced the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression. The Trump administration has also deployed an 18th century law, the Alien Enemies Act, to justify deporting Venezuelan migrants to other countries, including El Salvador. Trump's decision to invoke the law relies on allegations that the Venezuelan government coordinates with the Tren de Aragua gang, but intelligence officials did not reach that conclusion. Congress has ceded its power to the presidency Congress has granted emergency powers to the presidency over the years, acknowledging that the executive branch can act more swiftly than lawmakers if there is a crisis. There are 150 legal powers — including waiving a wide variety of actions that Congress has broadly prohibited — that can only be accessed after declaring an emergency. In an emergency, for example, an administration can suspend environmental regulations, approve new drugs or therapeutics, take over the transportation system, or even override bans on testing biological or chemical weapons on human subjects, according to a list compiled by the Brennan Center for Justice. Democrats and Republicans have pushed the boundaries over the years. For example, in an attempt to cancel federal student loan debt, Joe Biden used a post-Sept. 11 law that empowered education secretaries to reduce or eliminate such obligations during a national emergency. The US Supreme Court eventually rejected his effort, forcing Biden to find different avenues to chip away at his goals. Before that, Bush pursued warrantless domestic wiretapping and Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the detention of Japanese-Americans on the West Coast in camps for the duration of World War II. Trump, in his first term, sparked a major fight with Capitol Hill when he issued a national emergency to compel construction of a border wall. Though Congress voted to nullify his emergency declaration, lawmakers could not muster up enough Republican support to overcome Trump's eventual veto. 'Presidents are using these emergency powers not to respond quickly to unanticipated challenges,' said John Yoo, who as a Justice Department official under George W. Bush helped expand the use of presidential authorities. 'Presidents are using it to step into a political gap because Congress chooses not to act.' Trump, Yoo said, 'has just elevated it to another level.' Trump's allies support his moves Conservative legal allies of the president also said Trump's actions are justified, and Vice President JD Vance predicted the administration would prevail in the court fight over tariff policy. 'We believe — and we're right — that we are in an emergency,' Vance said last week in an interview with Newsmax. 'You have seen foreign governments, sometimes our adversaries, threaten the American people with the loss of critical supplies,' Vance said. 'I'm not talking about toys, plastic toys. I'm talking about pharmaceutical ingredients. I'm talking about the critical pieces of the manufacturing supply chain.' Vance continued, 'These governments are threatening to cut us off from that stuff, that is by definition, a national emergency.' Republican and Democratic lawmakers have tried to rein in a president's emergency powers. Two years ago, a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House and Senate introduced legislation that would have ended a presidentially-declared emergency after 30 days unless Congress votes to keep it in place. It failed to advance. Similar legislation hasn't been introduced since Trump's return to office. Right now, it effectively works in the reverse, with Congress required to vote to end an emergency. 'He has proved to be so lawless and reckless in so many ways. Congress has a responsibility to make sure there's oversight and safeguards,' said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., who cosponsored an emergency powers reform bill in the previous session of Congress. He argued that, historically, leaders relying on emergency declarations has been a 'path toward autocracy and suppression.'
