Federal Agency
Appears in 7 stories
The State Department has managed the diplomatic architecture of the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process, publishing implementation frameworks and coordinating with both governments. - Lead agency implementing TRIPP framework
No sitting U.S. president or vice president had ever visited Armenia—until February 9, 2026. Vice President JD Vance's arrival in Yerevan marks more than a diplomatic first: it signals Washington's deepest-ever engagement in a region long dominated by Russia and Iran. Vance brought $9 billion in potential nuclear investment, advanced Nvidia chips, and surveillance drones—tangible proof that the Trump administration is backing its August 2025 peace framework with economic muscle.
Updated Feb 11
The US agency responsible for foreign affairs, including negotiation and implementation of arms control treaties. - Supporting administration push for new multilateral treaty
For fifty-three years, binding agreements constrained the world's two largest nuclear arsenals. That era ended on February 5, 2026, when the New START treaty expired at midnight without a successor, as confirmed by President Trump who rejected a Russian extension offer and directed work on a new pact including China. The United States and Russia now face no legal limits on their combined stockpile of roughly 10,700 nuclear warheads.
Updated Feb 5
Primary US agency executing critical minerals bilateral agreements and the FORGE initiative. - Leading critical minerals diplomacy
China controls roughly two-thirds of global rare earth mining and about 90 percent of processing—a concentration the United States now treats as a national security threat. On February 4, 2026, Secretary of State Marco Rubio convened ministers from 54 countries in Washington to unveil America's answer: a preferential trade bloc for critical minerals backed by price floors, billions in financing, and a new coordinating body called FORGE.
The State Department now houses the Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy and has taken over most U.S. global health programming formerly run by USAID. - Lead implementer of America First Global Health Strategy
In 2025 the United States began dismantling its post-Cold War global health architecture: withdrawing from the World Health Organization, freezing most foreign aid, and abolishing USAID’s development role. On this foundation, the Trump administration unveiled an 'America First Global Health Strategy' that replaces large multilateral and NGO-run programs with tightly negotiated bilateral health compacts requiring partner governments to co-finance HIV, TB, malaria and outbreak response programs and gradually assume full responsibility. Kenya signed the first such deal on December 4, 2025, followed by Rwanda on December 5–6 with a $228 million compact; by early 2026, 15 nations had signed agreements committing over $16 billion, with the U.S. covering 100% of commodity costs in FY2026 before tapering support.
State is the political decision-maker behind the arms-sale approvals, not the shipper. - Approved the ‘possible’ Foreign Military Sales cases as consistent with U.S. law and policy
The record Taiwan arms tranche (about $11.1B across eight DSCA notifications) is now in the congressional review lane, but the story has already widened beyond hardware: Taiwan’s Defense Ministry and presidential office emphasized the buys are contingent on legislative funding, with local reporting outlining that five of the eight cases sit inside a pending NT$1.25 trillion special defense budget—meaning the political fight in Taipei is now a direct throttle on how fast the package can move from “possible sale” to signed LOAs.
Updated Dec 18, 2025
State Department frames ICC actions as political overreach and coordinates sanctions signaling. - Publicly justifying sanctions as sovereignty protection for U.S. and Israel
The U.S. just sanctioned two sitting International Criminal Court judges—because they helped keep the Israel-related Gaza case alive. It’s a rare thing in diplomacy: Washington using the same financial weapon it uses on oligarchs and terror networks against a courtroom.
The diplomatic engine turning AI supply-chain resilience into alliance policy. - Convening and framing Pax Silica as a strategic economic-security partnership
The U.S. just tried to name a new era into existence: “Pax Silica.” On December 12, 2025, Washington launched a coalition with key tech allies to lock down the ingredients of AI power—minerals, silicon, energy inputs, and the factories that turn them into chips and data centers.
Updated Dec 12, 2025
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