American diplomats have been ordered to return to using Times New Roman font in official communications. According to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the Biden administration's decision to switch to Calibri was a "wasteful" step for diversity, according to an internal departmental cable seen by Reuters, UNN reports.
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Under Rubio's predecessor, Antony Blinken, the department switched to Calibri in 2023, arguing that the modern sans-serif font is more accessible to people with disabilities because it lacks decorative corner elements and is standard in Microsoft products.
A departmental cable, dated December 9 and sent to all U.S. diplomatic missions, states that typography shapes the professionalism of an official document, and Calibri is more informal compared to serif fonts.
To restore order and professionalism to the Department's written products and to cancel another wasteful DEIA program, the Department is returning to Times New Roman as the standard font.
"This formatting standard is consistent with the President's directive 'A Single Voice for America in International Affairs,' emphasizing the Department's responsibility for a unified and professional tone in all communications," it added.
The switch to Calibri in 2023 was recommended by diversity and disability groups within the U.S. government, according to U.S. media reports. Some studies show that sans-serif fonts, such as Calibri, are easier for people with certain visual impairments to read.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Reuters.
Upon taking office in January, Trump quickly began rolling back federal DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) programs and curbing them in the private sector and education, including ordering the dismissal of diversity officers in federal agencies and cutting funding for a wide range of programs.
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DEI policies became more prevalent after nationwide protests in 2020 against the killings of unarmed Black people by police, which sparked a conservative backlash. Trump and other critics of diversity initiatives argue that they discriminate against white people and men and undermine merit-based decision-making. Proponents of DEI measures say they counter biases that quietly persist in so-called "color-blind" and meritocratic societies.
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