US updates: Trump announces full travel ban for 12 countries

Trump says he's 'disappointed' with Elon Musk US President Donald Trump slaps travel bans on a dozen countries The ban affects Afghanistan, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen Seven more countries face heavy entry restrictions: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela New rules comes into effect at 12.01 a.m. on Monday Separately, Trump has moved to restrict international students at Harvard University

Here is DW's roundup of news from the United States on Thursday, June 5, 2025:

Trump 'disappointed' by Musk's criticism of 'big, beautiful bill'

US President Donald Trump said he didn't know if his "great relationship" with Elon Musk would remain the same after the billionaire criticized his key tax and spending legislation, which the president labels the "big, beautiful bill."

"Look, Elon and I had a great relationship. I don't know if we will anymore. I was surprised," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Trump was responding to a question from a reporter about former advisor Musk slamming the bill on social media as "a disgusting abomination."

Trump claimed Musk’s opposition was driven by the bill’s elimination of EV tax credits, which would potentially hurt Tesla.

Musk, however, has said he opposes the bill because it would increase federal deficits.

Travel ban dents Iranian soccer fans' dreams

Football fans in Iran fear their World Cup dreams may be lost after the US travel ban barred them from entering the country to cheer on their team.

While the 2026 tournament will be co-hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico, most matches — including the final — are set to be played on US soil.

Many in Iran had hoped to cheer from the stands until Wednesday when US President Donald Trump rolled out a new travel ban — to take effect from Monday — on 12 countries that included Iran.

"My friends and I have been waiting for years to watch Team Melli [a nickname for the Iranian national team] play in a World Cup on US soil, and when they qualified, it felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," fan Sohrab Naderi told the AFP news agency.

"Now with the new travel ban, that dream is shattered because of politics that we don't care about and have no control over," said Naderi, who attended the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to see the US side beat Iran 1-0 in the group stage.

Iran has already qualified for next year's World Cup. Other countries on the list — Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen — are unlikely or near-certain not to qualify for the tournament.

Trump seeks Balkan partners to take in deported migrants — report

President Donald Trump's istration is pressuring Serbia and other Balkan countries to accept migrants deported from the United States, Bloomberg News reported Thursday, citing sources familiar with the effort.

The reported push is part of a broader US strategy to secure agreements with foreign governments willing to receive deported individuals, the outlet said.

The White House, US State Department, and Serbia’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond.

Last month, the US Supreme Court allowed the Trump istration to revoke temporary protected status for hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan, Cuban, Haitian, and Nicaraguan migrants, paving the way for more deportations. Bloomberg reported that the istration has been actively exploring destination countries for those affected.

China says Harvard international student ban harms US credibility

China has sharply criticized new restrictions imposed by US President Donald Trump on the entry of international students at Harvard University, calling on Washington to stop politicizing education.

"Educational cooperation between China and the US is mutually beneficial. China has always opposed politicization in this area," Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said at a press conference Tuesday.

The statement came in response to Trump’s executive order suspending the entry of new international students to Harvard for six months, citing alleged "radicalism" and "worrying foreign connections" linked to the academic institution.

Beijing warned that the measure would "damage the image and international credibility" of the US, and vowed to protect the legitimate rights of Chinese students and scholars abroad.

Harvard currently hosts 10,158 international students from 150 countries, including 2,126 from China, according to figures from the university’s international office for the 2024–2025 academic year.

Trump launches investigation into alleged "conspiracy" to cover Biden's cognitive decline

US President Donald Trump has ordered an investigation into what he called "conspiracy" to cover up former president Joe Biden's cognitive decline during his term.

"In recent months, it has become increasingly apparent that former President Biden's aides abused the power of presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden's cognitive decline," a presidential memorandum said.

"The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden's signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts," it added.

Trump and some other Republican politicians, as well as conservative US media, have long claimed this conspiracy, and it was been part of Trump's reelection campaign.

The claims became stronger during the presidential debate before the elections last year, where Biden appeared to stumble over words and kept losing his train of thought.

Recently, some Democrats have also begun to acknowledge that Biden was not as mentally present in recent years.

Biden, who is fighting cancer, has staunchly denied these allegations and said that these allegations are a distraction from Trump and the Republicans' attempts to push "disastrous legislation."

US Defense Secretary Hegseth feels confident NATO will up defense spending

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he was confident that NATO member states will sign up to President Trump's demand for an increase in defense spending.

Trump wants NATO allies to increase their defense spending to 5% of the GDP, up from the current 2%.

"To be an alliance, you got to be more than flags. You got to be formations. You got to be more than conferences. You need to be, keep combat ready capabilities," Hegseth on Thursday in Brussels, where he had arrived for a meeting of NATO defense ministers.

"It has to happen by the summit at The Hague later this month," he added.

NATO chief Mark Rutte has countered the demand by agreeing for 3.5 % of GDP on core military spending by 2032, and 1.5 % on security-related areas such as infrastructure.

Rutte is confident that the plan will be agreed upon, and his offer has received US backing. However, some NATO such as Spain have expressed reluctance.

Rights groups call Trump travel ban racist, xenophobic

International rights groups decried President Trump's new travel ban, calling it "discriminatory, racist and downright cruel."

"By targeting people based on their nationality, this ban only spreads disinformation and hate," Amnesty International USA posted on X.

US-baed Human Rights First also condemned the move, saying it undermined the US' founding principle of equality under law, as it targeted Muslim-majority nations. The organization wrote in a statement that the ban doubles down on Trump's "xenophobic policy."

“The ban will harm refugees, asylum seekers, and other vulnerable populations, including many who have been waiting to reunite with loved ones in our country," said Robyn Barnard, the organization's Senior Director of Refugee Advocacy.

LA Olympic athletes exempt from Trump's new travel ban

President Donald Trump's newly imposed travel ban will not apply to athletes competing in the Los Angeles Summer Olympics set to be held in 2028, the istrative order said.

The executive order contained a single line stating that "any athlete or member of an athletic team, including coaches, persons performing a necessary role, and immediate relatives, traveling for the World Cup, Olympics, or other major sporting event as determined by the Secretary of State."

During the Summer Olympics in Paris in 2024, some 204 countries competed, including all the nations included in the executive order. Unless new guidance is issued beforehand, it would appear that fans from these nations would not be allowed to attend.

Musk calls on Americans to oppose Trump's tax bill

Tech billionaire Elon Musk called upon US citizens to push lawmakers to vote down President Donald Trump's key tax and spending bill.

"Call your Senator, Call your Congressman. Bankrupting America is NOT ok! KILL the BILL," Musk wrote on his social media platform X.

Musk recently stepped down from his role in cutting federal spending with the Trump istration. He has been a vocal critic of Trump's tax bill, which he says would increase the deficit and accelerate national debt.

Trump calls it the "big, beautiful bill" but Musk has called it a "disgusting abomination" and warned lawmakers that they would face backlash in the 2026 midterm elections for ing it.

Trump has not responded to this criticism. But House Speaker Mike Johnson has questioned Musk's motives, saying the bill could negatively impact his electric vehicle company Tesla.

The bill narrowly ed the House of Representatives in May, but now faces a tough battle in the Senate.

Trump's travel ban called 'bigoted and Islamophobic'

The Trump travel bans have attracted criticism from different idological quarters.

Congresswoman Judy Chu, a Democrat who represents California, called Trump's travel ban Trump 'bigoted and Islamophobic' in a post on X.

"This goes against our core American values while doing nothing to make us safer," she said.

Immigration analyst Alex Nowrasteh from the Cato Institute, a Washington-based libertarian think tank, noted that terrorists from the 12 countries slapped with a total travel ban have killed one person on US soil since 1975.

"Annual chance of being killed by terrorist from one of those countries: 1 in 13.9 billion per year," he posted on X.

Oxfam America warned in a statement that the new travel ban "marks a chilling return to policies of fear, discrimination, and division."

The ban once again targets individuals from Muslim-majority countries and nations with predominantly Black and brown populations, it added, deepening "inequality and perpetuates harmful stereotypes, racist tropes, and religious intolerance."

What justification has Trump given for the travel bans?

US President Donald Trump said the full travel bans and partial restrictions — affecting 19 countries in total — were because of what he called national security and public safety threats.

Several countries were banned because of concerns over terrorism and their governments' lack of screening and vetting measures.

These include Afghanistan, Iran, Libya, Somalia and Cuba. Other countries, such as Sudan, Haiti, Yemen and Eritrea, are on the list because they don't have a "competent or cooperative central authority for issuing ports or civil documents," the White House said in a statement. For other nations, such as Chad, the Republic of the Congo and Equatorial Guinea, the White House pointed squarely to high visa overstay rates.

As well as having high overstay rates, some countries have also historically refused to take back their own citizens, the White House said, such as Myanmar, Laos, Sierra Leone and Venezuela.

What does the US mean by a partial travel ban?

The nationals of seven countries are covered by a partial travel ban: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela.

The partial travel ban affects people wanting to enter the United States temporarily for business (B-1 visa), tourism (B-2 visa) or a combination or both purposes (B-1/B-2 visa).

The new restrictions also also apply to those wanting to undertake academic or vocational study (F or M visa) or do a work- or study-based exchange program (J visa).

Harvard calls Trump's ban on new international students 'retaliatory'

Harvard University said Trump's executive order that bans the university from bringing in new foreign students for six months is "retaliatory."

"This is yet another illegal retaliatory step taken by the istration in violation of Harvard's First Amendment rights," university officials said in a statement released Wednesday night.

"Harvard will continue to protect its international students," it said.

Trump said in a statement that latest order was because Harvard refused to "provide sufficient information, when asked, about known instances of misconduct and criminality committed by its foreign students."

Venezuela warns of 'great risk' of traveling to US

Venezuela warned that travelling to the United States would amount to taking a "great risk" after new restrictions announced by the White House.

"Being in the United States is a great risk for anyone, not just for Venezuelans," Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said on Wednesday during his weekly TV show, according to AFP news agency.

He made the comment after US President Donald Trump announced a new travel bans.

Venezuelans are among people from seven nations affected by partial restrictions, while 12 countries have been hit with full travel restrictions.

An estimated 350,000 Venezuelans live in the United States.

While court decisions are still pending, the Trump stration in February broadly ended deportations protections given to Venzuelans.

Trump signs order blocking Harvard international students from entering US

In addition to the new travel ban on 12 countries, US President Donald Trump has also moved to block nearly all international students who want to attend Harvard from entering the country.

In an executive order signed Wednesday, Trump declared that it would jeopardize national security to allow Harvard, one of the world's most prestigious universities, to continue hosting international students on its campus.

This is because "Harvard's conduct has rendered it an unsuitable destination for international students and researchers," the executive order read.

The order applies to all students attempting to enter the United States to attend Harvard after the date of the executive order. It is to last for six months but allows for an extension.

For foreign students already at Harvard, who make up around a quarter of the student body, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will determine if visas should be revoked, Trump wrote.

It's a further escalation in the White House's fight with the nation's oldest and wealthiest university.

Last week, a federal court in Boston stopped the Department of Homeland Security from pausing US visa applications from international students wanting to go to Harvard.

Trump's order signed on Wednesday gives his istration a different legal authority to bar foreign students.

Trump alleges top US universities are cradles of anti-American movements.