In 2006, America’s NATO allies agreed to spend2% oftheir GDPon defense. After several years of little progress, the Obama administration secured anupdated agreementin 2014 that all would achieve this goal by 2024.Yet when Trump first entered office in 2017, onlyfiveof 28 nations had met thatmark.

The president and his national security team, including me, pressed our allies hard back then to live up to their commitments.By 2021, the number of NATO members doing so haddoubledand allied military spending increased considerably.

President Donald Trump, alongside Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaks during a news conference following the NATO Summit on June 25, 2025, in The Hague, Netherlands. On the summit agenda was a new defense investment plan that raised the target for defense spending to 5% of GDP. (Omar Havana/Getty Images)

Fast-forward to 2025.Aided by the ongoing war in Ukraine and a European fear of Vladimir Putin, Trump managed to achieve what many thought impossible: convince our NATO allies to spend a whopping5% of their GDPson defense!

In the economic space, the White House has similarly persuaded other nations to live up to past obligations when it comes to trade, using tariffs and other means where necessary to do so. This should be more apparent when it comes to future trade talks with China.

The communist state hasviolatedits obligations and reneged on numerous agreements for decades, from the theft of intellectual property to currency manipulation and the unfair subsidization of Chinese companies. During Trump’s first term, for example, the PRC notablynever purchasedthe $200 billion in additional U.S. exports it had promised.

China may be the most notorious country when it comes to reneging on commitments, but it’s not the only one.Many of America’s friends are also culpable, especially when it comes to deals made with U.S. companies.I have seen this during my own time in the private sector.

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This is enough of a problem that the House Appropriations Committee recently wrote in the Augustreportof their FY2026 spending bill for national security, Department of State and related programs that it “continues to be concerned by reports of commercial disputes between United States entities and host governments….”

The committee noted “particular concern” about “disputes over real property seized, held or expropriated by foreign governments.”The report went as far as to call out the governments of the “Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, Honduras, Kuwait, and Mexico.”

Allegedly, Mexico’s state-owned oil company PermexowesAmerican contractors $1.2 billion. Kuwait is purportedlyaccusedof not paying the U.S. for its financial obligations – including for its Al Zour refinery, one of the largest oil refinery projects in the Middle East – where it reportedly has left U.S. and other contractors unpaid.

And,per the State Department, many U.S. companies operating in Honduras have “voiced concerns regarding politically motivated threats of criminal prosecution and expropriation of private assets.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to media at Ben Gurion International Airport, as he departs Tel Aviv for Qatar following an official visit, near Lod, Israel, Sept. 16, 2025. (Nathan Howard/Pool Photo via AP)

The committee concluded its report by directing Secretary of State Marco Rubio “to utilize the various tools of diplomatic engagement to…. facilitate the timely resolution of such disputes.” Such action, of course, begins with America’s diplomats abroad.

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U.S. ambassadors who are already on station in foreign capitals facing such matters should press their host governments on all levels. As should those persons being put forward to the Senate for such assignments – beginning with Amer Ghalib, who testified Thursday at a hearingto be America’s next ambassador to Kuwait (currently the only vacant post in the House Committee’s call out list).

Further, a separate congressional hearing on the broader issue of foreign governments allegedly backpedaling on their agreements with U.S. companies would also be quite helpful.

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The administration has appropriately spoken about protecting U.S. jobs, preserving American innovation, and ensuring fairness when it comes to global trade and business. We have seen the president’s team act on these instincts.And given the business backgrounds of many in the administration, they surely appreciate the challenges that American companies face when addressing business disputes with foreign governments.

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Just as the president did this year by getting our NATO allies to live up to their spending commitments when it comes to bolstering the alliance, applying this same focus and energy to help U.S. firms resolve their disputes with foreign governments would go a long way to helping American companies and workers.

If our allies and friends want the benefits of partnership with the United States, they must also honor their commitments – to our country, our businesses and our workers. That’s another good way to put America first and promote U.S. economic growth and prosperity.

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Mark T. Esper, Ph.D., served as the 27th secretary of Defense.

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From January to September 2024, the Biden administration State Department spent $306 million on foreign and domestic travel. At the same point this year, the department under President Donald Trump spent $212 million, according to documents seen by Fox News Digital.

Some $37 million in cuts was focused on domestic travel, largely driven by a decrease in conference attendance, which made up nearly $7 million of the cuts.

Site visits and consultations within the U.S. also decreased by around $14 million and domestic special mission travel was down around $5.5 million.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS SIDES WITH TRUMP TO TEMPORARILY FREEZE $5B IN FOREIGN AID SPENDING

Marco Rubio, U.S. secretary of State, has led budget trimming at the State Department.  (Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Overseas travel decreased from $206 million from January-September 2024 to $149 million.

Site visits and consultations overseas were down around $12.5 million and travel for training was down around $15 million.

“The Trump Administration has consistently been on the side of the American people and the American taxpayer, and these numbers prove that,” principal deputy spokesperson Tommy Piggot said.

“We believe in real diplomacy, not meetings for the sake of meetings.”

STATE DEPARTMENT BLASTS DEMS OVER SHUTDOWN, SAYS NATIONAL SECURITY AT RISK AMID SENATE BATTLE

The State Department has spent nearly $100 million less on travel this year than last amid a wider effort to trim budgets, according to documents exclusively obtained by Fox News Digital. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

This travel-spending decline comes amid a broader effort by the Trump administration to shrink the department’s footprint and reduce overseas commitments. In April 2025, the Office of Management and Budget wrote a memo recommending the combined budget of the State Department and USAID be cut nearly in half in the upcoming fiscal year.

A group of people protest a reduction in force affecting workers at the State Department. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)

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The plan would reduce the budget from about $55 billion to $28.4 billion, slash funding for humanitarian assistance and global health programs by more than 50%, and potentially shut down or significantly scale back dozens of U.S. missions abroad.

And as of July, the department had initiated layoffs of over 1,300 domestic staff.

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The sources told Fox News that they suspect that the missionary has been taken north to Islamic State-controlled areas where an offshoot of ISIS operates.

“We are aware of reports of the kidnapping of a U.S. citizen in Niamey, Niger,” a State Department spokesperson said in a statement to Fox News. “Since we were alerted of the situation, our Embassy officials have been working with local authorities. It is a top priority for the Trump Administration to look after the safety of every American, and we are seeing efforts from across the U.S. Government to support the recovery and safe return of this U.S. citizen.”

MINNESOTA MISSIONARY, A FATHER OF 5, KILLED IN ‘ACT OF VIOLENCE’ IN ANGOLA

Niger’s presidential palace in Niamey in 2023. The abduction reportedly took place only about 100 yards from the presidential palace.  (AFP via Getty Images)

The missionary is a pilot for the evangelical missionary agency Serving in Mission,according to Reuters.

A general view of a crowded street market in Niamey, Niger, on May 17, 2023. The capital city has faced rising instability since the 2023 military coup that toppled President Mohamed Bazoum. (Michele Cattani / AFP via Getty Images)

TENNESSEE PASTOR KIDNAPPED AT GUNPOINT IN SOUTH AFRICA RECALLS ‘MIRACLE’ THAT SAVED HIS LIFE

The abduction took place only about 100 yards from the presidential palace in Niamey, where ousted President Mohamed Bazoum has been held since he was toppled by a coup more than two years ago, according to CBS News.

Following the kidnapping, the U.S. Embassy in Niger said it now requires all personnel to travel only in armored vehicles and announced that all restaurants and open-air markets are “off-limits”.

Kidnappings appear to have intensified this year in areas of West Africa where militants operate.An Austrian womanwas abducted in January in Niger, and aSwiss citizenwas abducted in April in the same country, Reuters reported.

Niger’s junta leader, Gen. Abdourahamane Tchiani, salutes during an official ceremony in Niamey, Niger, on Aug. 26, 2023. Tchiani seized power in a July 2023 coup that ousted President Mohamed Bazoum and has ruled the West African nation since. (AFP via Getty Images)

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In addition, five Indian citizens working for a company providing services toNiger’s Kandadji dam project were kidnapped during an attack by armed menin Aprilthat also killed a dozen soldiers, according to the outlet.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.

Michael Dorgan is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.

You can send tips to michael.dorgan@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @M_Dorgan.

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