 "Trump considering closing 30 embassies, consulates: Reports")
The Donald Trump administration of the United States is considering shutting down nearly 30 embassies and consulates, according to reports.
The development comes as billionaire Elon Musk is leading efforts to dismantle the US government in the name of cutting wasteful expenditure. However, the mass-firings and shutdown of government departments and programmes have been criticised for being self-goals as they withdraw the United States from large parts of the world and allow China to expand its influence.
The Trump administration is considering closing down 10 embassies, 17 consulates, and three other diplomatic missions, according to a memo from the Department of State cited by The New York Times.
These closures are expected to reduce US footprint in nearly every continent, including in critical regions like West Asia and Africa where the United States is heavily involved in counter-terrorism operations against jihadist groups.
At this moment, it is not clear if the proposal has been approved by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to CNN.
US diplomatic missions across continents proposed to be axed
The Trump administration is considering shutting down diplomatic missions in the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, and Asia, according to The Times.
In Africa, embassies in the Central African Republic, Eritrea, Gambia, Lesotho, Republic of Congo, and South Sudan are set to be shut down.
In Europe, the embassies in Luxembourg and Malta are set to be shut down.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe Trump administration is also set to shut down the embassy in Grenada in the Carribean and the Maldives in the Indian Ocean Region.
Among the consulates to be closed, five are in France (Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseilles, Rennes, and Strasbourg), two are in Germany (Dusseldorf and Leipzig), two are in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Mostar and Banja Luka).
Other US consulates set to be closed as per plans reported by The Times are Thessaloniki, Greece; Florence, Italy; Ponta Delgada, Portugal; and Edinburgh; Scotland; Douala, Cameroon; Medan, Indonesia; Durban, South Africa; and Busan, South Korea.
The internal memo has also proposed to downsize or eliminate the embassy in Somalia and the mission in Iraq. While the missions in Iraq are critical in operations against the Islamic State (Isis) and mission in Somalia are critical to deal with Al Qaeda and other jihadist groups in Africa.
The closure of diplomatic mission would substantially reduce the global footprint of the United States and make way for China to expand its influence. This is the latest victory that Trump’s withdrawal from the international stage would serve China. After Musk gutted US foreign aid programmes, China is understood to have swooped in to fill the vacuum. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is expected to get a boost from the gutting of US AID.
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