By Matthew Lee
AP Diplomatic Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration is stripping tens of millions of dollars in U.S. military assistance from countries in Europe and the Middle East to support conservative-leaning governments in Central and South America.
The State Department on Tuesday notified Congress that it will reprogram $52 million in foreign military financing from Slovakia, North Macedonia, Tunisia and Iraq to Panama, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Colombia, Ecuador and Peru last week and pledged to them additional support as the Trump administration has prioritized the Western Hemisphere in its foreign policy with an emphasis on combating drug trafficking and illegal immigration.
It is just the latest in a series of moves that have reduced either money or troop deployments to Europe in response to President Donald Trump’s complaints about NATO allies not spending enough on their defense budgets and other matters. Both North Macedonia and Slovakia are NATO members.
But it also comes as the administration has put particular attention on the Western Hemisphere, aligning deeply with right-wing governments as Trump celebrates a renewal of the 19th century Monroe Doctrine establishing Washington’s dominance in the Americas.
Foreign military financing provides recipient countries with U.S. taxpayer dollars to allow them to purchase military equipment from American defense contractors.
The State Department said the funds would be used to “combat narcoterrorism in our backyard and help continue to secure the Panama Canal,” adding that the Western Hemisphere has been historically neglected in U.S. military assistance.
“These funds will prevent adversaries from establishing strategic footholds in our hemisphere,” the department said in a veiled jab at China, which has increasingly sought to boost its presence in Latin America.
The shift of money does not eliminate foreign military financing for Tunisia, Iraq, North Macedonia or Slovakia, although the exact amount remaining for those countries was not immediately clear.
The State Department said, though, that the current distribution of financing does “not align with the administration’s prioritization of” the Western Hemisphere.