The Trump administration has begun recalling nearly 30 career US diplomats serving as ambassadors and senior embassy officials, marking a significant effort to realign America’s overseas diplomatic corps with President Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy agenda.
According to two US State Department officials, the chiefs of mission in at least 29 countries were informed last week that their tenures would end in January. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal personnel decisions that have not been formally announced.
All of the diplomats affected were appointed during the Biden administration and had initially survived an early wave of removals at the start of Trump’s second term, which largely targeted political appointees.
That situation changed this week, when notices were sent from Washington informing them of their impending departure from their current posts.
While ambassadors serve at the pleasure of the president, they typically remain in their assignments for three to four years.
The State Department officials said those being recalled are not being dismissed from the foreign service and may return to Washington to take up other assignments if they choose.
The State Department declined to comment on the exact number of diplomats affected or identify specific individuals, but defended the move as routine. In a statement, it described the recalls as “a standard process in any administration,” noting that ambassadors act as the president’s personal representatives abroad.
“It is the president’s right to ensure that he has individuals in these countries who advance the America First agenda,” the department said.
Africa has been the most affected region, with ambassadors recalled from 15 countries: Algeria, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Gabon, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Madagascar, Mauritius, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Somalia and Uganda.
The Asia-Pacific region follows, with ambassadorial changes in six countries: Fiji, Laos, the Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Vietnam.
In Europe, four countries are affected — Armenia, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovakia — while two countries each in South Asia (Nepal and Sri Lanka) and the Western Hemisphere (Guatemala and Suriname) are also included in the shake-up.
The recalls were first reported by Politico and have prompted concern among some US lawmakers as well as the union representing American diplomats, who have warned that large-scale personnel changes could disrupt diplomatic continuity and institutional expertise.
The developments signal a renewed effort by the Trump administration to reshape US diplomacy globally, prioritizing alignment with its policy agenda over traditional norms of continuity within the professional foreign service.
