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New York Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- New York Times
Seven African Countries Are on Trump's Travel Ban List. Why?
What did the nations of Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Libya, Somalia, the Republic of Congo and Sudan have in common, until they were all put on President Trump's travel ban list Wednesday night? They are all African countries. But beyond that, not much links them. They are scattered across the continent, spanning desert and tropical forest. Some are democracies (in name at least) and some are under military rule, some have a heavy terrorist presence and others do not. Announcing the travel ban on Wednesday, Mr. Trump said that his administration considered such factors as whether a country 'has a significant terrorist presence within its territory, its visa-overstay rate, and its cooperation with accepting back its removable nationals.' Chad, Somalia and Sudan have struggled with persistent terrorist threats. But so have Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso — three African countries run by military juntas that took power in coups — and none of them are on the list. Visitors from Chad, Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of Congo overstay U.S. visas at very high rates — 49, 33 and 30 percent in 2023, according to Homeland Security Department data. But far more Nigerians and Ghanaians overstay their visas in absolute terms. The number of Ghanaian and Nigerian visa holders overstaying is in the thousands, while for the banned countries it is in the hundreds. Not all of the countries who overstay the most are on the list, either — Djibouti's rate is 23 percent and Liberia's 19 percent, according to the data, but neither is banned. Somalia, whose overstay rate is 11 percent, is on the list. Bright Simons, a policy analyst at IMANI Ghana, a think tank based in Accra, said that the Trump administration appeared to be 'punishing whole countries for the sins of a minority.' There was very little a government could do to prevent its citizens from overstaying their visas, Mr. Simons added, suggesting that a more effective approach might be to emulate other countries that ask foreign visitors to post bonds when they apply for visas, to reduce the incentive to overstay. This would 'ensure that personal responsibility is not jettisoned in favor of national stigma,' he said.
Zawya
07-05-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Saudi trade surplus hits $8bln in February 2025
RIYADH — Saudi Arabia's trade balance recorded a surplus of SR 30.6 billion during February 2025, achieving a monthly growth of 44.6% with an increase of more than SR9 billion, compared to January, when the trade surplus amounted to SR21.1 billion. This was the highest in nine months, specifically since May 2024, in which a surplus of SR30.1 billion was recorded. According to preliminary data issued in Saudi Arabia's International Trade Bulletin, the total volume of international trade in February 2025 amounted to approximately SR156.9 billion, achieving an annual growth of 4% compared to an increase of more than SR1 billion, compared to February 2024, when it amounted to SR29.4 billion. Saudi Arabia's commodity exports amounted to about SR 93.7 billion, compared to SR63.2 billion, the value of commodity imports. Non-oil national exports amounted to about SR16.1 billion, representing 17.1% of the total exports, while oil exports recorded about SR67.6 billion, representing 72.1% of the total, while the value of re-exports amounted to about SR10 billion, representing 10.7% of the total exports. Asian countries group topped the list of importing groups for Saudi Arabia's exports, accounting for 73.7% of the total commodity exports, with a value exceeding SR69 billion, followed by the European countries group with a percentage of 12.5% and a value exceeding SR11 billion, then the African countries group with a percentage of 8.4% and a value exceeding SR7 billion. China ranked first among the countries importing Saudi Arabia's exports, with a percentage of 16.2% and a value of SR15.2 billion, followed by South Korea with a 10.1% and a value of SR9.5 billion, then the United Arab Emirates with a percentage of 9.8% and a value of SR9.2 billion. As for non-oil exports (including re-exports), they passed through (31) land, sea and air customs ports, and their initial value amounted to SR26.1billion, as King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh topped the customs ports with a value of SR3.2 billion, representing (12.4%) of the total, followed by Jeddah Islamic Port with a value of SR3.1 billion, representing 12% of the total. © Copyright 2022 The Saudi Gazette. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (
