US plans to close European consulates and cut state department workforce
Source: Reuters
US plans to close European consulates and cut state department workforce
Reuters
Thu 6 Mar 2025 18.10 EST
Last modified on Thu 6 Mar 2025 18.20 EST
The US state department is preparing to shut down a number of consulates that are mainly in western Europe in the coming months and looking to reduce its workforce globally, multiple US officials said on Thursday.
The state department is also looking into potentially merging a number of its expert bureaus at its headquarters in Washington that are working in areas such as human rights, refugees, global criminal justice, women’s issues and efforts to counter human trafficking, the officials said.
Reuters reported last month that US missions around the world had been asked to look into reducing US and locally employed staff by at least 10% as Donald Trump and his billionaire aide Elon Musk have unleashed an unprecedented cost-cutting effort across the US federal workforce.
The Republican president wants to ensure his bureaucracy is fully aligned with his “America first” agenda. Last month he issued an executive order to revamp the US foreign service to ensure “faithful and effective” implementation of his foreign policy agenda.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/06/us-european-consulates-state-department
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