The Trump administration is redirecting $52 million in US military assistance from four European and Middle Eastern countries to Panama, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, as it steps up its focus on the Western Hemisphere.
The State Department notified Congress on Tuesday that the foreign military financing originally allocated to Slovakia, North Macedonia, Tunisia and Iraq would be reprogrammed to the four Latin American countries.
The move follows Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Colombia, Ecuador and Peru last week, where he pledged additional US support as the administration places greater emphasis on the Western Hemisphere, particularly on combating drug trafficking and illegal immigration.
The funding shift is also the latest in a series of US moves affecting military assistance and troop deployments in Europe amid President Donald Trump’s criticism of NATO allies over defense spending and other issues. Both Slovakia and North Macedonia are NATO members.
At the same time, the administration has strengthened ties with conservative governments across Central and South America and has placed renewed emphasis on the Monroe Doctrine, the 19th-century US policy asserting Washington’s dominant role in the Americas.
Foreign military financing allows recipient countries to use US taxpayer-funded assistance to purchase military equipment from American defense contractors.
The State Department said the redirected funds would help “combat narcoterrorism in our backyard and help continue to secure the Panama Canal,” arguing that the Western Hemisphere has historically received less US military assistance.
“These funds will prevent adversaries from establishing strategic footholds in our hemisphere,” the department said, in an apparent reference to China’s growing economic and strategic presence in Latin America.
The reallocation does not end US foreign military financing for Tunisia, Iraq, North Macedonia or Slovakia, although the remaining amounts for those countries were not immediately available.
The State Department said the existing distribution of military financing no longer reflects the administration’s priorities, particularly its increased focus on the Western Hemisphere.