The US president is aiming to eliminate the country’s deficit over the next 10 years while shifting funding to border security.

As a result, his new budget includes proposals to cut funding elsewhere with Brand USA named as one of the agencies that would be disbanded.

USA Today reports the proposal must now go to Congress, which will debate it along with other proposals in the budget over the coming months.

Office of Management and Budget director Mick Mulvaney said: “We take this very seriously.

“This is a message from the president of the United States to the Congress that says, ‘Look, here are my priorities in terms of where I want to spend more. Here is where we shouldn’t be spending nearly as much. And here are some of the big ticket items’.”

However, the proposal has been slammed by US Travel Association president and chief executive Roger Dow who said the agency generates far more cash than it receives.

USA Today reported that he added: “With all that’s going on in the world, unilaterally disarming the marketing of the US as a travel destination would be to surrender market share at the worst possible time.

“It’s especially perplexing that the elimination of Brand USA is on the table when both Commerce Secretary Ross and OMB Director Mulvaney each have supported it previously.

“The creation of Brand USA was a bipartisan effort led by Republicans that passed both chambers by overwhelming majorities. The agency was responsible for adding $8.9 billion to the US economy last year, according to the firm Oxford Economics — a 28-to-1 return on investment.

“Brand USA isn’t funded with a dime of taxpayer money, reduced the deficit by $50 million, and by the OMB’s own accounting eliminating it would put the federal budget further in the red.

“With international visitation being the country’s number 2 export supporting 15 million American jobs, we’re struggling to understand how cutting Brand USA squares with this administration’s stated priorities.”

Brand USA chief strategy officer Anne Madison also defended the agency and quoted a recent Oxford Economics study that showed in the last four years, the groups marketing initiatives attracted 4.3 million more visitors who spent $13.6 billion, generating $4 billion in additional taxes.

She added: "Brand USA’s story is a compelling one that clearly demonstrates the significant impact the organisation has had on fuelling the nation’s economy by bringing millions of incremental visitors and billions of incremental dollars in spending to the USA."