BERLIN — Reflecting mounting European anger and astonishment at President Trump, several countries on Sunday rejected — sometimes in blunt terms — his ban on all refugees and the citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries entering the United States.
The spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany said there was no justification for the policy — not even the fight against terrorism — of refusing to admit refugees fleeing war.
Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain revised her stance on the US directive to take a harder line, while Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni of Italy said that Trump’s approach ran counter to basic European principles.
Steffen Seibert, a spokesman for Merkel, said she had reminded Trump during their telephone conversation Saturday that the Geneva Convention on refugees obliges all member states to take in people fleeing war.
The chancellor “is convinced that the resolute fight against terrorism does not justify blanket suspicion on grounds of origin or belief,’’ Seibert said, a day after Merkel and Trump talked at length for the first time since his inauguration Jan. 20.
In London, after May’s response to a question about the issue Saturday at a news conference in Turkey prompted sharp criticism of her unwillingness to criticize Trump, her spokesman said that the British government did “not agree with this kind of approach and it is not one we will be taking.’’
Gentiloni, whose country took in more than 180,000 migrants last year, did not mention Trump or the United States by name in a post on Twitter, but there seemed little doubt about what he was referring to. “Italy is anchored in its values,’’ he wrote Sunday. “Open society, pluralism, no discrimination. They are the pillars of Europe.’’
A day earlier, President François Hollande of France said he had reminded Trump of his “conviction that the ongoing fight to defend our democracy will be effective only if we sign up to respect to the founding principles and, in particular, the welcoming of refugees.’’
One person likely to be affected is a British sports hero, Olympic champion runner Mo Farah. He was born in Somalia and came to Britain at age 8, and he may not be able to return to his training base and home in Oregon, where his family lives.
The opposition Labor Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, posted a photograph of May and Trump on Twitter, writing: “hand in hand with the man who banned Mo Farah & Tory MP. Yet she remains silent.’’
“It’s deeply troubling that I will have to tell my children that daddy might not be able to come home,’’ Farah wrote on Facebook, “to explain why the president has introduced a policy that comes from a place of ignorance and prejudice.’’
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his country will welcome refugees rejected by Trump, the Associated Press reported. Ahmed Hussen, a Somali refugee, who was recently named Canada’s immigration minister, said Canada will offer temporary residency permits to travelers who become stranded there by Trump’s order.
A similar message was sent by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who said refugees deserve a safe haven regardless of their background or religion. Danish Foreign Minister Anders Samuelsen said the decision was unfair.
Mexico’s former President Vicente Fox said on Twitter that the executive order had ‘‘united the world’’ against Trump.
In Iraq, influential cleric Muqtada al-Sadr reacted by suggesting all Americans should be forced out of Iraq in retaliation, according to a statement from his office, the AP reported.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, also was sharp in her criticism of Trump’s move.
‘‘All men are first and foremost human beings, with their inalienable rights,’’ Mogherini wrote in a blog post. She added: ‘‘It feels so strange that we need to restate this, just days after Holocaust Remembrance Day.’’
In contrast, nationalist and far-right groups in Europe said the restrictions should be used a model for the continent.
The Dutch anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders said in a tweet: ‘‘Well done @POTUS it’s the only way to stay safe and free. I would do the same. Hope you'll add more Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia soon.’’
The far-right National Democratic Party in Germany celebrated ‘‘the massive restriction on the entry of pseudo-refugees and Muslims to the USA.’’
Merkel reacted coolly to Trump’s election in November, offering close cooperation only on the basis of shared values such as equal treatment for all, with no discrimination on the basis of faith, political views, sexual orientation or ethnic origin. Her stance on Trump’s executive order was in line with that approach.
Merkel, who grew up in communist East Germany and is the daughter of a Lutheran pastor, has invoked that background in justifying her decision to allow more than 1 million asylum seekers, many of them Muslims, into Germany since 2015.
In his interview with Germany’s Bild newspaper and The Times of London, Trump was strongly critical of Merkel’s refugee policy.
“I think she made one very catastrophic mistake, and that was taking all of these illegals, you know, taking all of the people from wherever they come from,’’ he said. “And nobody even knows where they come from.’’
