TORONTO -- BlackBerry Ltd. (TSX:BB) CEO John Chen says U.S. President Donald Trump's ban on people from seven predominantly Muslim countries entering America will hurt trade.

Chen said in a statement that he is disheartened and does not agree with the sharpness of the executive order.

Trump signed an executive order Friday that doesn't allow citizens from Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and Libya to enter the U.S. for 90 days.

Chen says the move will make it more difficult to conduct business globally and hurt trade.

He says BlackBerry hopes the U.S. administration will find better ways to handle such matters in the future.

Chen, himself an immigrant, says more than half of BlackBerry's executive team and many of the company's employees are immigrants.