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The US president Donald Trump has imposed a full travel ban on 12 countries mainly in Africa and the Middle East, following through on a promise made in 2024 on the campaign trail. But why has the president chosen to implement the ban now, and how likely is it to survive a legal challenge?

The ban includes Afghanistan, Iran, Somalia and Libya. But there鈥檚 also confusion as to why Egypt remains off the list despite the president citing the recent attack Colorado's Jewish community, which was allegedly carried out by an Egyptian national. There are also partial restrictions on seven other nations including Venezuela and Cuba.

And, in another instalment of Donald Trump鈥檚 war with Harvard, he鈥檚 also suspended foreign students from studying at the university, which could have a big impact on Chinese students. Sarah鈥檚 been chatting to Nicholas Burns, a former US ambassador to China who now teaches at Harvard, about how the university should respond to the president, and what it鈥檚 like to negotiate in a room with Xi Jinping.

HOSTS:
鈥� Sarah Smith, North America Editor
鈥� Anthony Zurcher, North America Correspondent

GUEST:
鈥� Nicholas Burns, Former U.S. Ambassador to China between 2022-2025 and Professor at Harvard University鈥檚 Kennedy School of Government. He is also a Faculty Affiliate at Harvard鈥檚 Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies.

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This episode was made by Purvee Pattni with Alix Pickles and Grace Reeve. The technical producer was Mike Regaard. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.

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