Abstract:
- Liberia was excluded from the Trump administration’s newest journey ban and visa restrictions, which have an effect on almost 40 international locations worldwide, together with a number of main West African economies, together with the Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Senegal
- Analysts say the choice displays enhancing diplomatic engagement between Monrovia and Washington and the Trump administration’s curiosity in Liberian minerals.
- Liberian authorities officers didn’t reply to requests for remark, however President Joseph Boakai lately praised the U.S. visa resolution as an indication of “rising confidence in Liberia’s progress and international engagement.”
By Anthony Stephens, senior reporter with New Narratives
Liberia’s exclusion from the Trump administration’s newest journey ban has drawn a mixture of reward and warning from overseas coverage consultants, who say it displays warming relations with Washington because the Trump administration shifts its focus from help to U.S. nationwide pursuits.
The revised coverage, announced final month by the White Home, took the variety of international locations going through visa restrictions to almost 40 international locations worldwide, most of them in Africa. Many of the main economies in West Africa are on the listing, together with Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Senegal and Mali. Residents of different international locations — together with Sierra Leone, Burkina Faso, Togo, Gabon, Tanzania, Zambia, Niger, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Somalia — face broad journey bans. Liberia and Ghana are two of only a handful of nations within the area that aren’t going through a ban.
The administration stated the coverage was geared toward defending the USA from “terrorist assaults and different nationwide safety and public security threats.” Excessive numbers of individuals overstaying their visas have additionally been cited.
The transfer adopted the arrest of an Afghan nationwide in Washington State in reference to the taking pictures of two U.S. Nationwide Guard members, one among whom later died. President Donald Trump pledged to increase journey restrictions after the incident.
In response to The New York Instances, Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland safety, urged President Trump to impose “a full journey ban” on international locations she stated had been contributing to crime and instability in the USA.
Liberia’s absence from the listing has drawn specific consideration. Earlier within the 12 months, the Trump administration placed Liberia amongst 36 international locations whose residents might doubtlessly face journey restrictions, triggering anxiousness in Monrovia and amongst Liberians within the diaspora. Liberia had one of many highest charges of visa overstays on this planet. In response, President Joseph Boakai appointed the overseas minister, Sara Beysolow Nyanti, to guide a particular committee to interact U.S. officers and tackle Washington’s considerations.
Since then, relations between the 2 international locations have proven indicators of warming. Final month, Liberia and the USA signed a $US124 million memorandum of understanding centered on“strengthening Liberia’s well being system, illness surveillance, outbreak response capability, and frontline well being workforce,”— a transfer extensively welcomed in Liberia.
Washington has additionally extended the validity of multiple-entry visas for Liberians from 12 months to 36 months — a choice celebrated by Liberians at residence and overseas. President Boakai stated it “displays rising confidence in Liberia’s progress and international engagement,” and that “it opens new doorways for our residents to discover instructional, cultural, and financial alternatives whereas strengthening our bilateral cooperation with the USA.”
Specialists stated Liberia’s willingness to just accept third-country nationals being deported from the USA as a part of Trump’s push to deport thousands and thousands of immigrants within the nation illegally was a key issue within the resolution. In October, Liberia introduced that it had “voluntarily” agreed to take one of the high-profile instances within the Trump administration’s crackdown – Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran nationwide, who the USA sought to deport after a U.S. decide dominated he couldn’t be returned to his homeland. Ghana has additionally taken deportees in current weeks. The legality of the deportations has been extensively challenged within the U.S. and has been opposed by human rights teams.
“I believe Liberia’s willingness to just accept the Ecuadorian man performed a job right here,” stated William Gyude Moore, a former Liberian minister of public works and now a senior coverage fellow on the Heart for International Growth in Washington.
Final month, a federal decide ordered García’s launch, ruling that he had been unlawfully detained.
The Trump administration has additionally been a powerful backer of the so-called Liberty Hall – a 25-year Concession between the Authorities of Liberia and U.S.–linked miner Ivanhoe Atlantic signed in July 2025. The deal grants Ivanhoe rights to make use of and develop Liberia’s rail and port infrastructure — notably the 243 km Yekepa–Buchanan railway and Liberia’s Atlantic port amenities — to move iron ore from its neighboring Guinea deposits to the worldwide market.
The prospect of journey restrictions had brought about widespread concern amongst Liberians, a lot of whom depend on shut household, instructional and financial ties to the USA. The Liberian government lately said that Presidents Boakai and Trump had spoken by telephone, saying “the dialog centered on issues of mutual curiosity, together with areas of regional peace and stability, and cooperation in key areas akin to governance, financial growth, and safety.”
Tennen B. Dalieh Tehoungue, a global justice knowledgeable, cautioned towards overreliance on Washington.
“We should not be simply fixated on having a relationship with America,” stated Tennen B. Dalieh Tehoungue, a former gender officer with the Swedish embassy in Liberia, in a WhatsApp audio message. “We have to increase our horizon primarily based on insurance policies with totally different international locations.”
Pointing to Sweden’s deliberate withdrawal later in 2026, she added: “You can’t be having a very good rapport with America and your Swedish counterparts are closing down on you. Sweden is a really, very strategic associate inside the European Union.”
Tehoungue stated Liberia should additionally place itself regionally, as instability spreads throughout the area.
“We see the instability inside the Sahel,” she stated. “How is Liberia situating itself to be of political significance, financial significance, within the midst of the turmoil?”
Neither Saywhar Gbaa, the assistant minister of overseas affairs for public affairs, nor Daniel Sando, the deputy minister of data for public affairs, responded to requests from FrontPage Africa/New Narratives in search of touch upon Liberia’s exclusion from the U.S. journey ban.
This story is a collaboration with New Narratives as a part of the “Investigating Liberia” challenge. Funding was offered by the Swedish Embassy in Liberia. The funder had no say within the story’s content material.
