US to close five foreign consulates in rare diplomatic move as part of Trump's America First agenda

The United States is set to shut down foreign consulates, including ones in Canada and Japan as part of Donald Trump's attempt to cut bloated government bureaucracy. 

The federal government as a whole has undergone severe cutback since Trump returned to office, with the State Department alone undergoing mass layoff last year.

The ​State Department has now notified Congress that it plans to close five foreign missions in a rare downsizing of ‌America's global diplomatic footprint, according to people familiar with the notice.

In the announcement sent to congressional committees last week, the State Department said it planned to close its posts in St. George's, Grenada; Nagoya, Japan; Medan, Indonesia; Douala, Cameroon; and Winnipeg, Canada. 

The people familiar with ​the notice spoke to Reuters on the condition of anonymity because the notice was not public.

The expected closures, which have not ​been previously reported, represent a rare example of the US closing multiple foreign missions in a ⁠downsizing that is not tied to a particular geopolitical event.

Early last year, during the opening months of the Trump administration, ​the State Department began preparations to shut down nearly a dozen foreign missions, media outlets reported at the ​time, as part of a broader push by the Republican president to transform the US bureaucracy so that it is fully aligned with his 'America First' agenda.

The White House Office of Management and Budget had advocated for an even more ambitious closure program, targeting up to 30 foreign missions. 

Some ​administration officials have privately argued that some smaller foreign missions are inessential and not cost effective.

Democrats and some former foreign ​policy and national security officials argue that cuts to the US diplomatic footprint - coupled with the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development, ‌which ⁠provided billions of dollars worth of aid globally - risks undermining American leadership, while leaving a dangerous vacuum for adversaries like China and Russia to fill.

While the State Department did undergo a broad bureaucratic overhaul last year – cutting dozens of bureaus and hundreds of staff – no foreign missions were shuttered.

Asked for comment on Sunday, the State Department issued a statement that did not confirm the ​closures but said it was ​focused on ensuring that the ⁠nation's diplomatic footprint was efficient and effective. 

The department added that it was committed to following congressional notification procedures.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has portrayed cost-cutting measures as necessary to right-size ​an organization many conservatives see as bloated and overly bureaucratic.

The US mission in St. George's, ​Grenada, is an ⁠embassy. The posts in Medan, Winnipeg and Nagoya are consulates, while the post in Douala is an 'embassy branch office.' 

Consulates and branch offices typically represent US interests in regions outside a foreign country's capital city, where the US embassy is typically located.

During the administration ⁠of former ​President Joe Biden, the US government opened several foreign missions, all of ​them in the Pacific region, where the US is competing for influence with China.

While China does not have a functioning foreign mission in Douala or Winnipeg, it ​does have a diplomatic presence in St. George's, Nagoya and Medan.

In July 2025, Marco Rubio announced a sweeping reorganization of the State Department and claimed the 'bloated' bureaucracy and 'radical political ideology' had to be eliminated.

It was part of Trump's agenda to 'deconstruct the administrative state' and reduce the size of the federal government, starting with the State Department where nearly 1,800 positions were slashed.

Rubio said officials took 'a very deliberate step to reorganize the State Department to be more efficient and more focused.' 

'It's not a consequence of trying to get rid of people. But if you close the bureau, you don't need those positions,' he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he's attending the annual Association of Southeast Asian Nations Regional Forum.

'Understand that some of these are positions that are being eliminated, not people.'

He said some of the cuts will be unfilled positions or those that are about to be vacant because an employee took an early retirement.