The US plans to close several consulates in Europe?

According to some officials, efforts are also being made to cut off the workforce worldwide, reports “The Guardian”.

The State Department is also trying to potentially unite a number of experts' bureaus at its headquarters in Washington, working in areas such as human rights, refugees, global criminal justice, women's problems and efforts to combat human trafficking.

The news agency “Reuters” reported that last month, missions from the US were asked to see the possibility of reducing local workers or from the US at least to 10%, as President Donald Trump and his multibillion-dollar adviser Elon Musk have launched an unprecedented attempt to shrink costs to the US federal workforce.

Trump and Mousk say the U.S. government is too big and the assistance financed by American taxpayers has been spent carelessly.

Consulates in Leipzig, Hamburg and Dusseldorf in Germany, Bordeaux and Strasbourg in France, and Florence in Italy were part of the list of smaller consulates the State Department is considering closing, according to the three officials, adding that this could change as part of the staff is considering whether there are strong reasons for them to remain open.

Officials have stated that the State Department on Monday has announced Congress plans to close its branch in Turkey's southeastern town of Gaziantep, where Washington has supported humanitarian work in northern Syria.

The department operates on more than 270 diplomatic missions around the world with a labour force of nearly 70,000, according to the official website.