Two countries in Africa have announced travel restrictions on American nationals in a tit-for-tat move after Donald Trump placed them on a no-entry list.

The US president, who launched a crackdown on immigration on day one of his second term, expanded a travel ban on Dec 19, barring people from seven more countries including Mali and Burkina Faso.

The list included Syrian citizens, as well as Palestinian Authority passport holders, and nationals of some of Africa’s poorest countries, also including Niger, Sierra Leone and South Sudan.

The White House said it was banning foreigners who “intend to threaten” Americans.

The move brought the number of countries whose citizens face restrictions in coming to the United States because of their nationality to nearly 40.

Burkina Faso and Mali, which are both led by military juntas, responded in statements issued separately by their foreign ministries.

They said they were imposing “equivalent measures” on US citizens.

Burkina Faso’s foreign ministry said in the statement that it was applying “equivalent visa measures” on Americans.

Mali said it was, “with immediate effect”, applying “the same conditions and requirements on American nationals that the American authorities have imposed on Malian citizens entering the United States”.

It also voiced its “regret” that the United States had made “such an important decision without the slightest prior consultation”.

The two countries in west Africa’s jihadist-hit Sahelian region are members of a confederation, formed in 2023, that also includes Niger.

Niger has not officially announced any counter-measures to the US travel ban, but the country’s news agency, citing a diplomatic source, said that such measures had been decided.

In his Dec 17 announcement, Mr Trump also imposed partial travel restrictions on citizens of other African countries, including Nigeria, as well as the Ivory Coast and Senegal.

Senegal qualified for the football World Cup to be played next year in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

The Trump administration has promised to let in athletes for the football tournament, but has made no such promises for fans of blacklisted countries.

Burkina Faso said in October it refused to take in migrants who had been removed from the United States, in a snub to one of Mr Trump’s signature migration policies.

Karamoko Jean-Marie Traore, Burkina’s foreign minister, at the time said the proposal was “indecent”.