US State Department to close consulates in Canada, Japan and Indonesia: Sources

Highlights:

• State Dept planning to close consulates in Japan, Indonesia and elsewhere
• Expected closures represent a rare moment of Washington shrinking its global footprint
• Trump administration last year weighed shutdown of nearly dozen consulates worldwide

The US State Department has 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 notice sent to some congressional committees late 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 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, Reuters and other 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 programme, 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.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has portrayed cost-cutting measures as necessary to right-size an organisation 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.