Ultimatum to the World - How Trump's New Entry Decree Puts 36 Countries Under Pressure

It is a message that feels like it’s from another era - from the time of colonial powers or Cold War threats. Over the weekend, the U.S. State Department, on behalf of President Donald Trump, sent a diplomatic cable to embassies and consulates in 36 countries - most of them in Africa. The content: an ultimatum. By Wednesday, each of these countries must agree to tighten security screenings for travelers, or else face a travel ban to the United States. The tone is cold, bureaucratic - the message unmistakable: those who do not comply will be shut out.

But the ultimatum is more than just a technical measure against visa abuse. It is a manifestation of a deeply rooted ideological radicalization. President Trump speaks openly of “deficient” states whose citizens cannot be trusted. Some of these countries - like Nigeria, Egypt, Liberia, or Ethiopia - have been close U.S. partners for decades. Others, like Syria or the Democratic Republic of the Congo, were not previously on Trump’s travel ban list. Now, however, all face the same fate: new visas will be denied, existing ones not renewed, and entire populations treated as potential threats.

The list reads like a map of global inequality: 25 of the 36 affected countries are in Africa. Added to that are nations from Asia, the Caribbean, and Oceania - including Bhutan, Laos, Tonga, and Vanuatu. Cuba, Venezuela, and Turkmenistan are also on the expanded ban list. Officially, it’s about improving passport documentation, willingness to accept deportees, and “confidence building.” In reality, it is a system of arbitrary coercion: the U.S. grants a 60-day window for governments to prove themselves - otherwise, punishment follows. Whether partial compliance or visible progress will be enough for exemption remains unclear.

While Trump lifts off in a helicopter en route to the G7 summit in Canada, the international community reacts with outrage. Some governments announce countermeasures, while refugee and resettlement organizations call it a “divisive signal” that undermines global solidarity. U.S. ambassadors on the ground are now tasked with determining how “cooperative” the affected countries are - it reads like a page from the textbook of imperial foreign policy. What remains is the sobering realization: under Donald Trump, immigration policy has become an exercise in power, a global threat display, a calling card of an America that increasingly trusts only itself.