In mid-June 2025 reports emerged that the Trump administration would consider adding to its existing travel ban on 19 countries (signed in early June) an additional 36 countries, including three in the Pacific: Vanuatu, Tonga, and Tuvalu.
In an internal diplomatic cable, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly outlined a variety of concerns about the 36 countries that they would have to address within 60 days to avoid a ban on travel to the United States. These concerns included that the countries maintained unreliable passport security, identity documents, and criminal records; had a high rate of visa overstayers in the United States; were unwilling to cooperate in taking back citizens deported by the U.S.; sold citizenship to people who did not live in their countries; and had citizens involved in terrorism and/or anti-American activity in the U.S.
The Trump administration’s inclusion of Tuvalu – a Pacific nation with a population of roughly 11,200 people – on the list caught many by surprise, with people wondering what the island nation could have possibly done to irritate the United States. Despite receiving no official notification that Tuvalu was indeed under consideration for a ban, due to media reports and citizen concern, the Tuvalu government sought to clarify the matter. By June 20, Tuvalu’s Prime Minister Feleti Teo explained during a press conference that the U.S. had verbally confirmed that Tuvalu had been placed on the reported travel ban list by mistake.
Despite U.S. claims that Tuvalu had only appeared on the list due to an error, Tuvalu’s inclusion and the anxiety it caused is symbolic of how the second Trump administration continues to buck U.S. diplomatic trends and alienate partners, raising concerns about its foreign policy goals.
A number of countries that appear on the expanded travel ban list are likely included because they engage in citizenship by investment (CBI) schemes where people (often wealthy) are able to purchase a second citizenship and/or a second passport in participating countries for a fee. Pacific countries on the expanded list like Vanuatu, as well as other listed nations like St. Kitts and Nevis, currently engage in CBI schemes, which have a reputation for attracting criminals or criminal activity. For example, Vanuatu gained attention in 2025 when it was discovered that Andrew Tate, who is accused of sexual assault and human trafficking, among other crimes, had allegedly obtained Vanuatu citizenship through a CBI scheme in the same month as his 2022 arrest in Romania.
Tuvalu engaged in a passport sale scheme in the 1990s and the government of Prime Minister Kausea Natano (2019-2024) briefly considered participating in CBI before scrapping the plan. It is unclear whether a U.S. misunderstanding of the status of Tuvalu’s proposed CBI scheme landed it on the travel ban list. Yet, the Trump administration’s criteria for banning travel based on CBI seems inconsistent at best as Nauru announced recently that it would begin a new CBI program and has not been placed on the list.
Another explanation for the travel ban was high overstay rates for those who had been granted visas to the United States. This explanation also falls short. According to data from the Department of Homeland Security, in fiscal year 2023, just 52 Tuvaluan citizens received visas to visit the U.S. Of those, only one was suspected of overstaying, which means an overstay rate of less than 2 percent.
The U.S. State Department also highlighted passport security as a potential concern about countries on the expanded travel ban list. But this too doesn’t seem to fit Tuvalu’s case. In fact, it is safe to say that the country now has the strongest passport security ever in its history. In 2023, Tuvalu signed the Falepili Union Treaty with Australia, which is a close traditional partner of the United States. The security agreement provides a unique pathway for 280 Tuvaluan citizens to obtain permanent residence visas in Australia every year. This, however, came with a caveat in the agreement that before the visa pathway opened, Tuvalu would ensure that its “immigration, passport, citizenship and border controls [were] robust and [met] international standards for integrity and security and [were] compatible with and accessible to Australia.” Registration for the pathway opened for the first time on June 16, 2025, meaning that from an Australian perspective, Tuvalu’s passport security meets international standards.
For the United States to then turn around and consider blocking Tuvaluan entry, potentially due to questions about passport security, either deliberately undermines Canberra’s judgment or shows a lack of awareness of Australia’s security agreement with Tuvalu. Given that Australia largely sought to sign the agreement with Tuvalu to block China’s ambitions in the Pacific, which has also been a major concern for Washington., potential U.S. disregard of the agreement would suggest a shift in U.S. relations not only with Tuvalu but also with Australia. It may also point to a change in U.S. determination to stave off Chinese influence in the Pacific.
Similarly, Tuvalu is one of only three countries in the Pacific that still recognizes Taiwan instead of China (the other two are Palau and the Marshall Islands). Tuvalu is also the only country in the Pacific that recognizes Taiwan while not being fortified by a strong relationship with the United States through a Compact of Free Association, which Palau and the Marshall Islands both have. If the U.S. is serious about blocking China’s expanded regional influence and engagement in the Pacific, supporting Taiwan and its Pacific allies is an important strategy; it is also one the U.S. has employed in the past.
Subjecting Tuvalu to a travel ban would only serve to alienate it from the United States and potentially push it toward a relationship with China. It is important to note that, aside from Tuvalu, a number of countries on the expanded travel ban list also recognize Taiwan. St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia and Tuvalu – three of Taiwan’s 12 remaining diplomatic allies – are all on the leaked list, while another ally of Taiwan, Haiti, is on the original travel ban list.
Despite uncertainty as to how and why Tuvalu ended up on the expanded travel ban list – even if only by mistake – the country’s inclusion has the potential to upset relations not only between the U.S. and Tuvalu but also, and by extension, between the U.S. and Australia and Taiwan. It also indicates that the Trump administration doesn’t clearly grasp Tuvalu’s importance in the Pacific region.
The United States would do well to more fully consider the ramifications of blocking foreign nationals from its borders, especially those like Tuvalu that have sent only a miniscule number of people to its shores.