The US State Department has notified Congress of its plan to close five missions, a rare step to reduce its overseas diplomatic presence.
According to Reuters, a document sent to relevant congressional committees last weekend stated that the planned closures include the embassy in St. George's, Grenada; consulates in Nagoya, Japan; Medan, Indonesia; and Winnipeg, Canada; and the embassy branch in Douala, Cameroon.
The planned closures stand out as a rare instance of multiple overseas missions being reduced simultaneously, without being tied to a specific geopolitical event.
In the early months of the Trump administration, the State Department had begun preparations to close nearly a dozen overseas missions. These steps were seen as part of a strategy to shrink the state apparatus in line with the 'America First' policy.
The White House Office of Management and Budget had floated a larger plan that included closing up to 30 missions. Some administration officials had privately argued that some small diplomatic posts were unnecessary and did not justify their costs.
Democrats and former foreign policy and national security officials, however, warn that reducing the US diplomatic presence, combined with the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which provides billions of dollars in global aid, could weaken Washington's position and create a dangerous vacuum that China and Russia would fill.
Last year, while dozens of units were closed and hundreds of employees laid off at the State Department, no overseas missions were shuttered. In response to a request for comment on August 1, the department did not confirm the closure plans but said it was focused on keeping the diplomatic presence effective and efficient and would comply with congressional notification procedures.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio presents the spending cuts as a necessary step to align the department's size with its missions. Many conservatives view the State Department as bloated and overly bureaucratic.
Under the Biden administration, by contrast, the US had opened new overseas missions in the Pacific region, where it competes for influence with China. While China has no diplomatic missions in Douala or Winnipeg, it has posts in St. George's, Nagoya and Medan.
