Posted on 04/16/25
| News Source: FOX News
The Trump administration is mulling a proposal that would slash the State Department budget by $27 billion – nearly in half – and shutter smaller embassies and consulates across the globe.
The proposal calls for the elimination of funding for more than 20 international organizations, including the United Nations, NATO and the Organization of American States, a diplomatic source in possession of the document told Fox News Digital.
The U.S. contributed around $13 billion to the United Nations in 2023 and around $3.5 billion to NATO. The proposed budget calls for allocating $2 billion for "America First" priorities. Those coffers could be used for "specific partners" like India and Jordan, according to the document, or broader priorities, like the South Pacific Tuna Treaty.
However, a State Department spokesperson said Tuesday, "there is no final plan, final budget."
A new draft proposal from the White House would eliminate UN funding. (Anthony Behar/Sipa USA (Sipa via AP Images)
The proposal is an early draft and has to pass layers of approval within the administration before it even gets to Congress. Congress can then take it as an outline but ultimately draw up its own budget figures.
The foreign service travel budget and benefits would be scaled back, and the Fulbright scholarship program would be eliminated.
The document calls for a 2% reduction in diplomatic security, cuts to the inspector general’s office and the closure of smaller embassies in countries such as the Maldives, Malta, Luxembourg and the Central African Republic.
It also proposes a 54% cut to global public health funding, with carve-outs for malaria, HIV, and tuberculosis, and a complete elimination of international peacekeeping funds.