WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio has ordered diplomatic correspondence to stop using the Calibri font and return to the more traditional Times New Roman effective Wednesday, reversing a Biden administration shift to the less formal typeface that he called wasteful, confusing and unbefitting the dignity of U.S. government documents.
“Typography shapes how official documents are perceived in terms of cohesion, professionalism and formality,” Rubio said in a cable sent to all U.S. embassies and consulates abroad Tuesday.
In it, he said the 2023 shift to the sans serif Calibri font emerged from misguided diversity, equity and inclusion policies pursued by his predecessor, Antony Blinken. Rubio ordered an immediate return to Times New Roman, which had been among the standard fonts mandated by previous administrations.
“The switch was promised to mitigate accessibility issues for individuals with disabilities,” the cable said, asserting that it did not achieve that goal and had cost the department $145,000 but did not offer any evidence.
Since taking over the State Department in January, Rubio has systematically dismantled DEI programs in line with President Donald Trump’s broader instructions to all federal agencies. The Trump administration says the goal is to return to purely merit-based standards.
Rubio has abolished offices and initiatives that had been created to promote and foster diversity and inclusion, including in Washington and at overseas embassies and consulates, and also ended foreign assistance funding for DEI projects abroad.
“Although switching to Calibri was not among the department’s most illegal, immoral, radical or wasteful instances of DEI it was nonetheless cosmetic,” according to Rubio's cable obtained by The Associated Press and first reported by The New York Times.
“Switching to Calibri achieved nothing except the degradation of the department’s correspondence,” he said, adding that it also clashed with the typeface in the State Department letterhead.
According to a separate memo sent to department employees, the return to Times New Roman takes effect Wednesday and all templates for official documents are to be updated to remove the offending Calibri font.
The only exceptions are documents prepared for international treaties and for presidential appointments, which are required to use Courier New 12-point font, the memo said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrives to join Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a secure room in the basement of the Capitol to brief lawmakers on the military strike on a suspected drug smuggling boat and its crew in the Caribbean near Venezuela Sept. 2, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 10, 2025--
Growers transplanting vegetables from the greenhouse to the field now have an additional tool to prepare for the unexpected during critical periods of transplant stress. NewLeaf Symbiotics, a biological technology provider and global leader of PPFMs, is launching a specific-to-vegetable transplant (VT) biostimulant for 2026. NewLeaf’s VT Technology, registered Terrasym® VT, has demonstrated notable yield wins in a broad range of specialty crops, including strawberries, tomatoes and cucurbits. VT received California approval for use in late November 2025, making it now available in key U.S. geographies.
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“NewLeaf VT technology is a combination of PPFM strains that work together to improve nutrient uptake and mitigate abiotic transplant stress to enhance seedling vigor,” says Aaron Kelley, Chief Commercial Officer of NewLeaf Symbiotics. “These plant benefits result in more fruit being harvested when compared with the grower standard practice as a control in trials.”
Growers using VT have choices in application method, applying via drench prior to transplant or via dripline after transplant. The technology is another proof point demonstrating the power and performance of Pink-Pigmented Facultative Methylotrophs (PPFMs), a class of microbes where NewLeaf is the undisputed global leader. With a library of 12,000 PPFM strains, NewLeaf specifically selects and develops technologies based on each strain’s unique genetic properties. The strains specifically selected and developed into the VT technology for vegetable transplant demonstrated the ability to work symbiotically with these specialty crops.
“VT technology has been tested for more than 8 years in labs, greenhouses, small-plot field trials and on-farm large-scale field trials. NewLeaf puts that time and resource investment into our technology so we can deliver consistent performance for fruit and vegetable transplant production,” says Kelley. “As we awaited critical approvals, like California, we were able to document strong results, including an average yield increase of 2.3 tons/A in processing tomatoes on 20 large scale farm trials from 2022-2024 when compared to grower standard practice.”
NewLeaf’s VT technology is now approved for use in 21 states. Retailers and growers interested in research results or purchasing NewLeaf VT technology for 2026 can reach out to the NewLeaf team at newleafsym.com.
About NewLeaf Symbiotics
NewLeaf Symbiotics is a biological technology provider known as the pioneer and global leader of Pink-Pigmented Facultative Methylotrophs (PPFMs) and methanotrophs, a closely related microbe. NewLeaf has nine technologies on ten crops developed over the last decade and has a pipeline backed by more than 250 patents focused on sustainable and yield-based outcomes in crop production. Ranging from row crops to specialty operations, NewLeaf is dedicated to a science-led, performance-driven and data-backed approach that delivers results to its partners and the growers they support.
Terrasym® is a registered trademark of NewLeaf Symbiotics.
Anne Phillips, senior staff scientist at NewLeaf Symbiotics, walks with a grower through his tomato field trial during the Pink Performance Tour in 2025.
