US president Donald Trump has begun drawing up a new draft of the controversial executive order banning travellers from certain countries, it is understood.

According to MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough, citing sources close to the US president, the legal team at the White House has started working on rephrasing the order to try to overcome legal obstacles posed by the federal courts.

It comes after the US federal appeals court unanimously upheld a suspension of the order, which restricted travel from seven Muslim-majority countries – Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen – for 90 days.

Mr Trump also imposed a 120-day halt on all refugees – except refugees from Syria who are barred indefinitely.

The ‘travel ban’ was widely criticised as being discriminatory against Muslims, with some questioning whether it would make any impact at all as a security measure.

Protests were staged around the world, while national security veterans, major US technology companies and law enforcement officials from more than a dozen states backed the legal effort against the ban.

Taking to Twitter, Mr Trump appeared to suggest he would continue to try to push his order through – with the US Supreme Court the next stage for appeal.