Local leaders react to President Donald Trump's travel ban, and the U.S. and China meet in London for trade talks.
New travel ban goes into effect as a Florida leader reacts
Starting on Monday, a new travel ban on 12 countries is going into effect after President Donald Trump announced the embargo last week citing security risks.
This ban on travel to the U.S will affect citizens from 12 mainly African and Middle Eastern countries.
- Afghanistan
- Myanmar
- Chad
- Congo-Brazzaville
- Equatorial Guinea
- Eritrea
- Haiti
- Iran
- Libya
- Somalia
- Sudan
- Yemen
This comes in the midst of rising tensions over Trump’s immigration enforcement in Los Angeles where protests have intensified after the National Guard was deployed there over the weekend.
The ban also imposes heightened travel restrictions on people from seven other countries — Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela — who are outside the U.S. and who don’t have a visa.
The ban will not revoke visas that were issued prior to Monday from any one of those 12 countries on the list.
However, unless an applicant meets narrow criteria for an exemption to the ban, his or her application will be rejected.
Exceptions will be made for lawful permanent residents, existing visa holders, or individuals whose entry serves U.S. national interests like U.S. government employees or diplomats.
In a video posted to social media last Wednesday, Trump said nationals of those countries could pose “terrorism related” and “public safety” risks and risk overstaying their visas.
The president also cited the recent antisemitic attack in Boulder, Colorado, as one of the reasons for the ban.
Various Florida lawmakers, including 42nd District State Rep. Anna V. Eskamani, held a virtual press conference Friday, condemning the travel ban.
“This travel ban does nothing to make us safer. What it does do is tear families apart, block students and professionals from opportunities, disrupts our economy and targets people based on where they come from, not who they are. And again, we have been here before, the courts, the public and history have shown us that these bans are discriminatory in nature,” the Democrat said.
In his first term, Trump barred travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries from coming to the U.S. in 2017.
It was then repealed by former President Joe Biden in 2021.
U.S., China holding trade talks in London after Trump's phone call with Xi
High-level delegations from the United States and China met in London on Monday to try to shore up a fragile truce in a trade dispute that has roiled the global economy.
A Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier He Lifeng held talks with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at Lancaster House, an ornate 200-year-old mansion near Buckingham Palace.
Wang Wentao, China's commerce minister, also was part of Beijing's delegation.
The talks, which may continue Tuesday, follow negotiations in Geneva last month that brought a temporary respite in the trade war.
The two countries announced May 12 they had agreed to a 90-day suspension of most of the 100%-plus tariffs they had imposed on each other in an escalating trade war that had sparked fears of recession.
The U.S. and China are the world's biggest and second-biggest economies. Chinese trade data shows that exports to the United States fell 35% in May from a year earlier.
Since the Geneva talks, the U.S. and China have exchanged angry words over advanced semiconductors that power artificial intelligence, visas for Chinese students at American universities and " rare earth " minerals that are vital to carmakers and other industries.
President Donald Trump spoke at length with Chinese leader Xi Jinping by phone last Thursday in an attempt to put relations back on track. Trump announced on social media the following day that the trade talks would resume in London.
Rare earths were expected to be a focus of the talks. The Chinese government started requiring producers to obtain a license to export seven rare earth elements in April. Resulting shortages sent automakers worldwide into a tizzy. As stockpiles ran down, some worried they would have to halt production.
Beijing indicated Saturday that it is addressing the concerns, which have come from European companies as well as U.S. firms.
Kevin Hassett, a U.S. economic adviser, told CNBC on Monday that he expected a short meeting with "a big, strong handshake" on rare earths.
The U.K. government says it is providing the venue and logistics but is not involved in the talks, though British Treasury chief Rachel Reeves met with both Bessent and He on Sunday, and U.K. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds was due to meet Wang.
"We are a nation that champions free trade and have always been clear that a trade war is in nobody's interests, so we welcome these talks," the British government said in a statement.