‘You’re Eroding Trust’: What Trump Shifting Tens of Millions in Military Aid Means for U.S. Alliances

Secretary of State Marco Rubio (2nd R) and his wife Jeanette Dousdebes are welcomed by by Colombia's President Abelardo de la Espriella and his wife Ana Lucia Pineda upon their arrival in Barranquilla, Colombia, on September 8, 2026. —Luis Acosta—AFP/Getty Images The Trump Administration announced this week that it plans to shift tens of millions in military aid from countries in Europe and the Middle East to nations in Latin America with right-leaning governments.

A State Department official confirms to TIME that the department notified Congress that $52 million in foreign military funding for Iraq, North Macedonia, Slovakia, and Tunisia will be diverted to Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, and Peru, and that the funds will be used to “combat narcoterrorism in our own backyard and help continue to secure the Panama Canal.” The department did not specify how much military funding the U.S. will continue to provide those Middle Eastern and European nations following the shift.

“The proposed reprogramming in the Western Hemisphere will reduce opportunities for adversaries to establish or sustain strategic footholds in our hemisphere,” the State Department official says.

The reallocation of military funding reflects a broader shift in the U.S.’s priorities when it comes to foreign policy.

Since Trump’s return to office last year, his Administration has worked to buttress the U.S.'s presence in the Western Hemisphere in the name of curbing drug trafficking from Central and South America and squashing the influence of other nations, such as China , in the region.

The Trump Administration has also sought to recalibrate its foreign policy regarding the Middle East and Europe.

A national security strategy laid out by the White House at the end of last year stated that the Administration intended to take a more hands-off approach to armed conflict in those regions and allow them to become more militarily self-reliant.

The diversion of foreign military aid marks the latest in several moves Trump has made to cut U.S. troops and funding in Europe during his second term—though in the Middle East, his war in Iran has engaged the U.S. in months of conflict.

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Military Drawdown in Europe Has Only Just Begun Experts warn that the shift in military funding—and the broader plans of realigning U.S. foreign policy it fits into—threatens to weaken the country’s alliances around the world over the long term.

“You're eroding silently, quietly, bit by bit, this trust in the United States,” Jim Townsend, who served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for European and NATO Policy for eight years in the Obama Administration, tells TIME of the Administration diverting military funding from European and Middle Eastern countries.