Mali and Burkina Faso’s military regimes on Tuesday announced they will bar U.S. citizens from entering their countries, a tit-for-tat response to President Donald Trump’s expanded U.S. travel restrictions.

The bans, issued in separate statements by the two governments’ foreign ministers, mark the latest escalation between Washington and a bloc of West African juntas that have been drifting away from the U.S. and the Economic Community of West African States. (RELATED: Kristi Noem Announces Travel Ban On More Than 30 Countries)

“The entry into the United States of nationals of Mali as immigrants and as nonimmigrants is hereby fully suspended,” Trump’s Dec. 16 proclamation says.

.@PressSec: “The Trump Administration has done more to limit migration, both illegal and legal, than any administration in history.”

— Travel ban on 19 countries
— Refugee admissions into the U.S. are essentially at zero
— Pausing all asylum adjudications pic.twitter.com/wfbYwN8BuE

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) December 1, 2025

Mali’s Foreign Ministry said it would apply “the same conditions and requirements to US nationals as those imposed on Malian citizens,” effective immediately, according to the Associated Press. Burkina Faso’s Foreign Minister Karamoko Jean-Marie Traoré issued a similar statement invoking the same reasoning.

Trump’s Dec. 16 action expanded earlier restrictions to cover additional countries, including Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger — all run by juntas that have formed a breakaway association from ECOWAS.

The White House said the move was aimed at “protect[ing] the security of the United States,” and the proclamation cites country-specific security concerns, including armed conflict and terrorist organizations operating in Mali and terrorist activity in Burkina Faso, as reasons for fully suspending entry for their nationals.

The U.S. State Department has Mali under a Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisory, citing terrorism, kidnapping, violent crime, unrest and limited U.S. capacity to help Americans outside Bamako — and ordered non-emergency U.S. personnel and family members to leave in October. Human Rights Watch says Mali’s conflict with Islamist armed groups has displaced more than 402,000 people and fueled mass-casualty attacks and reprisals.

Burkina Faso is in even worse shape. The State Department also lists it as Level 4 “Do Not Travel,” warning that terrorist groups “continue to plan and conduct” attacks nationwide. UNHCR notes government data showing more than 2 million internally displaced people, one of the region’s most severe displacement crises. Human Rights Watch has accused Burkinabe security forces and allied militias of mass killings of civilians, while reporting that more than 60% of the country is outside government control amid the insurgency, the AP separately reported.