The Trump administration has formally notified Congress of a planned restructuring of U.S. diplomatic posts across three global regions, moving forward with the closure of five small diplomatic missions while advancing high-profile plans to restart formal diplomatic operations in three politically critical countries. According to internal administration notices obtained by the Associated Press, the State Department sent separate formal notifications to congressional legislators late last week outlining the five targeted locations for shutdown: the full U.S. embassy in the Caribbean island nation of Grenada, two U.S. consulates located in Nagoya, Japan and Medan, Indonesia, a small American Presence Post diplomatic outpost in Winnipeg, Canada, and a regional embassy branch office based in Douala, Cameroon.
Department officials project that the streamlining measure will generate approximately $4.4 million in annual cost savings for the federal government. All five targeted missions are classified as small-scale posts, with extremely lean staffing compared to larger U.S. diplomatic facilities around the world. Breaking down the personnel numbers: the Grenada embassy and the Nagoya consulate each employ just one direct-hire American staff member and five locally hired workers; the Medan consulate has four American employees and 47 local staff; the Winnipeg outpost relies entirely on two local workers with no full-time U.S.-based personnel; and the Douala branch office counts 14 local staff members.
This planned round of closures follows an earlier announcement from the State Department earlier this year, which ordered the permanent shutdown of the U.S. consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan. That facility had served as the closest U.S. diplomatic mission to Afghanistan after the complete withdrawal of American military forces from the country in 2021.
The restructuring effort comes as the State Department pursues a broader organizational strategy to optimize its global operational footprint, reallocating resources toward priority diplomatic initiatives. A core component of that push is the multi-million dollar investment to reopen U.S. embassies in three countries: Caracas, Venezuela; Damascus, Syria; and Tripoli, Libya. The reopening of these posts marks a step to restore full formal U.S. diplomatic presence in these nations after long-ruling authoritarian leaders were ousted from power in each country, completing the restart of diplomatic engagement that had been paused for years.