The Trump administration<\/a> has not confirmed ambassadors to more than 100 nations, more than doubling the vacancy rate from the same period in the president\u2019s first term.<\/p>\n The gaping holes in the American diplomatic corps have left the country less informed and less able to respond to a variety of ongoing crises, according to observers, as more than half of the world’s nations lack a full U.S. ambassador. <\/p>\n The unfilled seats come at a time of global uncertainty, as the U.S. wages a war with Iran;<\/a> the Ukraine conflict threatens to spill over into NATO countries in Europe; and President Trump is pursuing a maximalist foreign policy from the Caribbean to Greenland.<\/p>\n As of mid-May, there were 109 vacant ambassadorships out of 195, according to the American Foreign Service Association, including those for strategically important nations<\/a> such as Ukraine, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n During President Donald Trump\u2019s first term, just 45 ambassador posts were vacant, a Wall Street Journal analysis found<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cThose missions should all have ambassadors<\/a> when you\u2019re fighting a war,\u201d Barbara Leaf, a retired diplomat who served high-level positions in the Middle East during the first Trump and Biden administrations, told<\/a> Reuters. \u201cAt a moment of crisis \u2013 and it\u2019s an open-ended crisis \u2013 this administration has left these missions in a parlous state.\u201d<\/p>\n The White House deferred questions to the State Department.<\/p>\n \u201cThe President has the right to determine who represents the American people and interests around the world, and we eagerly await the Senate\u2019s confirmation of many of these representatives,\u201d a State Department spokesperson said in a statement to The Independent. \u201cThe Department has confidence in our ability to communicate with our counterparts around the world and advance the national interest. In those embassies without a Senate-approved ambassador, experienced charg\u00e9 d’affaires lead the missions.\u201d<\/p>\n Government employees and high-level foreign diplomats alike told the outlet that the vacancies have made it difficult to communicate effectively in moments of crisis, such as when Trump threatened last month to destroy Iranian civilization<\/a>, setting off fears the U.S. was preparing to use a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n Diplomats said they were unable to get a clear response from the State Department about what the president\u2019s threat really entailed.<\/p>\n Last year, about 3,000 employees left the State Department, and the Trump administration recalled 30 Biden-appointed ambassadors<\/a>. The downsizing was part of a larger series of cuts to the U.S. foreign policy apparatus, which also included shrinking the National Security Council<\/a> and halting billions of dollars in foreign aid<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"More](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2277271708...jpeg\")
More than 100 U.S. ambassador posts remain vacant, which critics say has left the U.S. vulnerable and ineffective amid multiple major regional wars (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2270428273...jpeg\")
The administration has leaned on friends and business associates of Trump for top-level assignments, turning to the president\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner and ally Steve Witkoff to lead the Iran and Ukraine peace processes (AFP\/Getty)<\/p>\n