{"id":27319,"date":"2026-08-04T13:17:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T08:17:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=27319"},"modified":"2026-08-04T13:17:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T08:17:28","slug":"us-state-department-to-close-consulates-in-canada-japan-and-indonesia-sources-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=27319","title":{"rendered":"US State Department to close consulates in Canada, Japan and Indonesia, sources say"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-article-body=\"true\" data-body-type=\"bodyblocks\">\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">By Humeyra Pamuk and Gram Slattery<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) &#8211; The U.S. State Department has notified Congress that it plans to close five foreign missions in a rare downsizing of America&#8217;s global diplomatic footprint, according \u200cto people familiar with the notice.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">In the notice sent to some congressional committees late last week, the State \u200cDepartment said it planned to close its posts in St. George&#8217;s, Grenada; Nagoya, Japan; Medan, Indonesia; Douala, Cameroon; and Winnipeg, Canada. The people familiar with \u200bthe notice spoke on the condition of anonymity because the notice was not public.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The expected closures, which have not been previously reported, represent a rare example of the U.S. closing multiple foreign missions in a downsizing that is not tied to a particular geopolitical event.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Early last year, during the opening months of the Trump administration, the State Department began preparations to shut down nearly \u200ca dozen foreign missions, Reuters and other \u2060media outlets reported at the time, as part of a broader push by the Republican president to transform the U.S. bureaucracy so that it is fully aligned with his &#8220;America First&#8221; agenda.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The \u2060White 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">Democrats and some former foreign policy \u200band national \u200bsecurity officials argue that cuts to the U.S. diplomatic footprint &#8211; coupled \u200bwith the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for \u200cInternational Development, which provided billions of dollars worth of aid globally &#8211; risks undermining American leadership, while leaving a dangerous vacuum for adversaries like China and Russia to fill.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">While the State Department did undergo a broad bureaucratic overhaul last year \u2013 cutting dozens of bureaus and hundreds of staff \u2013 no foreign missions were shuttered.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">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&#8217;s diplomatic footprint was efficient \u200cand effective. The department added that it was committed to following \u200bcongressional notification procedures.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has portrayed cost-cutting measures as \u200bnecessary to right-size an organization many conservatives see as \u200bbloated and overly bureaucratic.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">The U.S. mission in St. George&#8217;s, Grenada, is an embassy. The posts in \u200cMedan, Winnipeg and Nagoya are consulates, while the \u200bpost in Douala is an &#8220;embassy branch \u200boffice.&#8221; Consulates and branch offices typically represent U.S. interests in regions outside a foreign country&#8217;s capital city, where the U.S. embassy is typically located.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">During the administration of former President Joe Biden, the U.S. government opened several foreign \u200bmissions, all of them in the \u200cPacific region, where the U.S. is competing for influence with China.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">While China does not have a functioning foreign \u200bmission in Douala or Winnipeg, it does have a diplomatic presence in St. George&#8217;s, Nagoya and Medan.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg md:leading-8 break-words\">(Reporting \u200bby Humeyra Pamuk and Gram Slattery; Editing by Stephen Coates)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Humeyra Pamuk and Gram Slattery WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (Reuters) &#8211; The U.S. State Department has notified Congress that it plans to close five foreign missions in a rare downsizing of America&#8217;s global diplomatic footprint, according \u200cto people familiar with the notice. In the notice sent to some congressional committees late last week, the State&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/lo\/mysterio\/api\/823ed46ee58667edd372ad572b75beb3833b76ee1e1ac089725aca9f64763cbc\/lightyear_networkapi\/resizefill_w800_h533;quality_80;format_webp\/https:%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Freuters.com%2F304d47aa2b141f243df6cc7b08730fca","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-real-trending-viral-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=27319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/27320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=27319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=27319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=27319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}