President Donald Trump's Chief of Staff Susie Wiles is limiting the amount of overseas travel that Cabinet members can take heading into the midterms, according to insiders. Wiles reportedly told staff in February that they should only be leaving the country when absolutely necessary, according to three people with knowledge of the meeting who spoke to Politico.
The changes come ahead of what some — including Trump himself — predict will be a brutal midterm year for Republicans. Early in Trump's second term, his Cabinet officials were taking regular trips abroad. Now, it seems, the "America First" president wants to keep his Cabinet actually in America. Two of the insiders told the outlet that all Cabinet-level international travel has to be cleared by Wiles.
“All trips are run through Cabinet Affairs. The international ones are on a case-by-case basis, but they definitely want you to focus on domestic travel,” one of the sources told Politico.
There's been some pushback to the new travel policy. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in a statement that foreign travel is important to the work the federal agencies undertake. The agency noted that Trump and his trade officials “have traveled the world to successfully negotiate over two dozen trade deals, expanding unprecedented market access for American farmers and ranchers.”
“Secretary [Brooke] Rollins has taken an historic and unprecedented role to boost American market access and is constantly meeting with American exporters and key foreign government counterparts in key markets to ease trade barriers while USDA Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Luke Lindberg has visited over two dozen countries in the last year,” the spokesperson said.
The sources speaking to Politico reportedly said the new policy is not a direct response to any individual instance of excessive travel, but is part of a broader move to focus the administration on domestic issues ahead of the midterms. That may prove difficult considering the president is in a waiting game with Iran to see if he will continue the war he started earlier this year. Republicans have found themselves in an unenviable position heading into this year's election. Trump's own officials have warned that both the war in Iran as well as gas prices — and thus the price of many others goods — will remain high for the foreseeable future.
