As the new year unfolds there are well-known and unsettled policy decisions on the agenda that
will challenge all businesses and entrepreneurs engaged in trade and investment across borders.
In this memorandum, I aim to briefly highlight information relevant to international trade law but
also draw from insights and interactions in my role as Belgium’s Honorary Consul and as a standup
comedian, including during a visit to Brussels, Amsterdam and The Hague in December.
1. The President’s decision last Friday afternoon to bar temporarily the entry into the United
States of any visitor who is a national of one seven countries (Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya,
Somalia and Yemen)1 triggered public protest and dissent among career civil servants, but
many followers of the President are delighted.
a. It is worth noting that (i) nationals of all of these seven countries already were required
to go through a background examination and consular interview process to obtain a
U.S. immigrant or non-immigrant visa, regardless of whether they have another
passport and dual-citizenship and (ii) as of 2016, as a result of the Visa Waiver Program
Improvement and Terrorist Travel Prevention Act of 2015, any person otherwise
qualified for the Visa Waiver Program, e.g., a citizen of France, U.K., The Netherlands
and Belgium, or 34 other trusted countries, may not use the Visa Waiver Program if
they have traveled to or been present in Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and
Yemen after March 1, 2011.2 This measure was intended to screen against people who
may be a threat and presumably has been effective, or at least no particular significant
gaps have been identified.
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