The Trump administration is considering its strongest restrictions yet on travel to the United States by Chinese citizens, a move that is very likely to trigger retaliation from Beijing amid deteriorating relations, The New York Times reports.
Officials with knowledge of the proposal, which has yet to be finalised and get President Trump’s approval, told the newspaper that the travel ban could apply to members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and their families.
The proposed presidential order may also empower the US government to revoke the visas of CCP members and their families who are already in the United States, which means they would be expelled.
It could also ban entry to the United States of members of China’s armed forces (People’s Liberation Army) and executives at state-owned businesses.
According to the report, the legal reasoning for the proposed ban is a provision in the 1952 Immigration and Nationality Act that authorises the US president to ban groups of immigrants who are considered “detrimental to the interests of the United States”.
