The Claim

Directed the Secretary of State to declare that U.S. foreign policy will “always put America and American citizens first.”

The Claim, Unpacked

What is literally being asserted?

That the President directed the Secretary of State to issue a declaration establishing that U.S. foreign policy will prioritize America and American citizens. The claim maps to Executive Order 14150, “America First Policy Directive to the Secretary of State,” signed January 20, 2025.

What is being implied but not asserted?

That prior to this directive, U.S. foreign policy was not putting America and American citizens first — that some previous framework had subordinated American interests to those of other nations, and that this represents a corrective. The phrase “always put America and American citizens first” implies there was a meaningful period when they came second. The word “directed” implies a substantive policy change that required presidential intervention.

What is conspicuously absent?

That every administration in modern history has declared that U.S. foreign policy serves American interests. The Obama administration’s 2015 National Security Strategy opened by stating its purpose was “the security of the United States, its citizens, and U.S. allies and partners.” The Clinton administration titled entire policy papers “Engaging China to Promote and Protect American Interests.” Biden’s framework was explicitly called “Foreign Policy for the Middle Class.” No Secretary of State of either party has ever declared that foreign policy should not put American interests first. This is the rhetorical equivalent of declaring that the sun shall rise tomorrow.

Also absent: that Executive Order 14150 is remarkably short — three sections, two of which are boilerplate legal provisions. The operative content is a single sentence directing the Secretary of State to “issue guidance” aligning the department with an “America First foreign policy.” There are no specific policy mandates, no timelines, no enforcement mechanisms, no measurable outcomes. It is a mission statement, not a policy directive.

Most critically absent: that item 153 — “Declared all foreign policy must be conducted under the President’s direction, ensuring career diplomats reflect the foreign policy of the United States at all times” — describes the companion enforcement mechanism (EO 14211, “One Voice for America’s Foreign Relations”) for this same initiative. The two items together are one policy initiative counted twice.

Padding Analysis: Two Items for One Policy Initiative

Items 152 and 153 describe the same “America First” foreign policy initiative from different angles:

• Item 152 (this item) maps to Executive Order 14150, the rhetorical declaration that foreign policy will “always put America and American citizens first.”
• Item 153 maps to Executive Order 14211, the enforcement mechanism requiring diplomats to implement the President’s foreign policy or face “professional discipline, including separation.”

The White House’s own fact sheet for EO 14211 explicitly references EO 14150 as the foundation it builds on. These are sequential components of a single initiative: one declares the brand, the other establishes the enforcement apparatus. Counting the announcement and its enforcement mechanism as separate “wins” is a padding strategy. The analysis of item 153 covers the substantive consequences — the mass layoffs, ambassador recalls, fidelity criteria, and workforce crisis — in detail.

Evidence Assessment

Established Facts

Executive Order 14150 was signed on January 20, 2025 (Inauguration Day) and published in the Federal Register at 90 FR 8337 on January 29, 2025. The order’s operative language consists of two substantive sentences. Section 1 declares: “From this day forward, the foreign policy of the United States shall champion core American interests and always put America and American citizens first.” Section 2 directs: “The Secretary of State shall issue guidance bringing the Department of State’s policies, programs, personnel, and operations in line with an America First foreign policy, which puts America and its interests first.” Section 3 contains standard boilerplate provisions. The order includes no specific policy mandates, no timelines, no enforcement mechanisms, and no measurable outcomes. ¹

Secretary of State Marco Rubio was confirmed unanimously by the Senate on January 20, 2025 and subsequently implemented the directive. At his January 15, 2025 confirmation hearing, Rubio stated: “Under President Trump, the top priority of the United States Department of State will be the United States.” He articulated the framework: “Every dollar we spend, every program we fund, every policy we pursue must be justified by the answer to one of three questions: Does it make America safer? Does it make America stronger? Or does it make America more prosperous?” Rubio was confirmed 99-0, the first Cabinet member confirmed in the second Trump term. ²

Every modern administration has declared that U.S. foreign policy serves American interests. The Obama administration’s 2015 National Security Strategy stated its first priority as “the security of the United States, its citizens, and U.S. allies and partners.” The Clinton administration published a policy document titled “Engaging China to Promote and Protect American Interests.” The Biden administration framed its approach as “Foreign Policy for the Middle Class,” with National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stating: “Everything we do in our foreign policy and national security will be measured by a basic metric: Is it going to make life better, safer and easier for working families?” No administration of either party has ever defined its foreign policy as putting other nations’ interests above America’s. ³

The practical implementation under the “America First” banner included the dissolution of USAID, massive State Department workforce reductions, and an organizational overhaul. In April 2025, Rubio announced a reorganization consolidating 734 bureaus and offices to 602, with plans for a 15% domestic staff reduction (approximately 2,000 employees). Eliminated offices included the Office of International Religious Freedoms, the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, the Office of Global Women’s Issues, and the Office of Global Criminal Justice. By March 2025, 83% of USAID programs (approximately 5,200 contracts) were terminated, with the agency officially ceasing operations in July 2025. The combined value of terminated foreign assistance exceeded $80 billion. ⁴

Strong Inferences

The “America First” branding serves primarily as a rhetorical device to frame the dismantling of diplomatic infrastructure as patriotic prioritization. The executive order itself contains no policy substance — it is a single-sentence directive to issue guidance. The real policy content lies not in EO 14150 but in the subsequent actions taken under its banner: the dissolution of USAID, the organizational purge, the “fidelity” promotion criteria, and the 15% workforce reduction. By declaring that foreign policy will “always” put America first, the administration creates a framework in which any cut to the State Department’s mission — including shuttering offices that combat human trafficking, protect religious freedoms, and pursue global criminal justice — can be recast as serving American interests. The declaration precedes the action and provides its justification. ⁵

Foreign Affairs characterized the bipartisan shift toward prioritizing domestic interests over multilateral engagement as “Washington’s Flawed New Foreign Policy Consensus,” noting more continuity between administrations than typically recognized. The distinction is not whether administrations prioritize American interests — they all do — but whether they view American interests as best served through multilateral cooperation (the post-1945 consensus) or through unilateral assertion. The “America First” label conflates a genuine policy orientation with the false premise that prior administrations were not trying to serve American interests. ⁶

What the Evidence Shows

The steel-man case is simple: the President signed an executive order directing the Secretary of State to align the department with an “America First” foreign policy, and the Secretary of State did so. The order exists. It was published in the Federal Register. It was implemented with vigor. The claim, on its face, is true.

But the claim is misleading in several overlapping ways. First, it implies that “putting America first” is a novel policy orientation rather than the bipartisan baseline of American foreign policy since the founding. Every administration frames its foreign policy as serving American interests. The Clinton, Obama, and Biden administrations all used language about protecting American citizens, advancing American prosperity, and strengthening American security. The Trump administration’s innovation is not the orientation but the branding — and the false premise that previous administrations were doing something different.

Second, Executive Order 14150 is among the shortest and most substance-free executive orders of the Trump presidency. Its operative content is a single sentence directing the Secretary of State to issue guidance. It contains no specific mandates, no benchmarks, no enforcement mechanisms. Listing it as a standalone “win” is like listing a corporate mission statement revision as a business accomplishment.

Third, the “America First” branding became a rhetorical framework for actions that merit their own scrutiny: dissolving USAID and terminating $80 billion in foreign assistance, eliminating offices that combat human trafficking and protect religious freedoms, and purging the career diplomatic workforce. Whether these actions actually serve American interests — or merely serve the administration’s preference for a smaller state — is precisely the question that the “America First” label is designed to foreclose.

The Bottom Line

The claim is literally true: the President did direct the Secretary of State to declare an “America First” foreign policy, and the executive order uses the exact quoted language. But the claim is misleading in treating a rhetorical declaration as a substantive accomplishment. Every modern administration has declared that foreign policy serves American interests — this one simply gave it a brand name. Executive Order 14150 is a single operative sentence wrapped in boilerplate; it is a mission statement, not a policy achievement. The real policy actions taken under the “America First” banner — USAID dissolution, workforce purges, elimination of human rights and anti-trafficking offices — are consequential, but they are described elsewhere on the list (and partially in item 153, which is padding of this same initiative). What remains when you strip away the branding is an Inauguration Day announcement that American foreign policy will serve American interests — something no administration has ever disputed.

Footnotes

1. Executive Order 14150, “America First Policy Directive to the Secretary of State,” 90 FR 8337 (January 29, 2025). Full text at American Presidency Project, https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/executive-order-14150-america-first-policy-directive-the-secretary-state ↩

2. CBS News, “Rubio tells Senate committee the ‘top priority’ of State Department will be U.S. in confirmation hearing,” January 15, 2025, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/marco-rubio-confirmation-hearing-2025/; Washington Post, “Rubio details what Trump’s ‘America First’ foreign policy looks like at confirmation hearing,” January 15, 2025, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/01/15/rubio-confirmation-hearing/ ↩

3. Obama White House, “2015 National Security Strategy,” February 2015, https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/docs/2015_national_security_strategy_2.pdf; Clinton White House, “Engaging China to Promote and Protect American Interests,” https://clintonwhitehouse5.archives.gov/WH/EOP/NSC/html/nsc-03.html; Biden White House, “Remarks by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Renewing American Economic Leadership,” April 27, 2023, https://bidenwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/04/27/remarks-by-national-security-advisor-jake-sullivan-on-renewing-american-economic-leadership-at-the-brookings-institution/ ↩

4. NBC News, “Marco Rubio announces a massive overhaul of the State Department, with a reduction of staff and bureaus,” April 22, 2025, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/marco-rubio-unveils-massive-overhaul-state-department-reduction-staff-rcna202458; PBS News, “Secretary of State Rubio says purge of USAID programs complete, with more than 80% of agency’s programs gone,” March 2025, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/secretary-of-state-rubio-says-purge-of-usaid-programs-complete-with-more-than-80-of-agencys-programs-gone; The Hill, “Rubio: USAID officially ceases operations,” July 2025, https://thehill.com/policy/international/5379363-us-aid-agency-closure/ ↩

5. Democracy 2025 Response Center, “The Trump administration is trying to Enact an ‘America First’ foreign policy agenda,” https://www.democracy2025.org/response-center/CrR2cl; NPR, “Marco Rubio announces overhaul of U.S. State Department,” April 22, 2025, https://www.npr.org/2025/04/22/nx-s1-5372587/marco-rubio-announces-overhaul-of-u-s-state-department ↩

6. Foreign Affairs, “The Age of America First: Washington’s Flawed New Foreign Policy Consensus,” Richard Haass, September 29, 2021, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2021-09-29/biden-trump-age-america-first ↩