WASHINGTON, DC – A periodic document detailing US foreign policy and security emphasizes the need for US “preeminence” in the Western Hemisphere, reflecting President Donald Trump’s push for regional dominance.
The National Security Strategy (NNS) released on Friday also calls for balancing trade with China and preventing China from occupying Taiwan.
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However, unlike the previous assessment released during Joe Biden’s presidency in 2022, the new NNS did not focus primarily on China or mark competition with China as the biggest challenge for the United States.
Instead, the US government emphasized a policy of non-interventionism. This reflected President Trump’s disdain for multilateralism and international institutions, saying that “the fundamental political unit of the world is and always will be the nation-state.”
Here are five key takeaways from this document.
hemispheric dominance
The United States aims to “restore American primacy in the Western Hemisphere” by reinforcing the Monroe Doctrine, a 19th century U.S. policy against European colonization and interference in the Americas.
Besides blocking foreign influence in the hemisphere, it would promote the fight against drug trafficking and irregular immigration, while encouraging a “private economy.”
“We will reward and encourage regional governments, political parties and movements that broadly align with our principles and strategies,” the document says.
President Trump has already put this approach into action, publicly supporting conservative politicians in Latin America and bailing out Argentina’s economy under right-wing President Javier Melei with $40 billion.
“We deny our non-hemispheric competitors the ability to deploy troops or other threatening capabilities or to possess or control strategically important assets within our hemisphere,” the document reads.
“This ‘Trump corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine is a common sense and compelling restoration of American powers and priorities consistent with America’s national security interests.”
The NSS also calls for relocating U.S. military assets to the Western Hemisphere “away from theaters whose relative importance to U.S. national security has declined in recent decades.”
The strategy comes as the United States ramps up deadly attacks on ships in the Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean that it says are carrying drugs.
The Trump administration has also ordered a military buildup around Venezuela, increasing speculation that Washington is seeking to overthrow leftist President Nicolas Maduro by force.
Preventing conflict over Taiwan
The past two national security strategies, including one released during President Trump’s first term in the White House, have stated that competing with China is a top priority for the United States.
However, this NNS did not bring the conflict with Beijing to the fore.
Still, the document emphasized the need to win economic competition in Asia and rebalance trade with China. To that end, he singled out India and emphasized the need to work with allies in Asia to counter Beijing.
“We must continue to improve commercial (and other) relations with India to encourage New Delhi to contribute to Indo-Pacific security.”
The document detailed the risk of China seizing Taiwan by force, noting that the autonomous island, which Beijing claims as its own, is a major producer of computer chips.
He also stressed that occupying Taiwan would give China access to the second island chain in the Asia-Pacific and strengthen its position in the South China Sea, a key artery of global trade.
“Therefore, deterring conflict over Taiwan, ideally by maintaining military superiority, is a priority,” NNS said.
The strategy called on America’s partners in the region to increase military spending to deter conflict.
“We will build a military that can refute invasion anywhere along the first island chain,” he said.
“But the American military cannot and should not do this alone. Our allies must commit and spend more resources for collective self-defense. And more importantly, they must do so.”
blame europe
President Trump has ordered the Justice Department to crack down on speech critical of Israel and target political opponents in the United States, while NNS scorned Europe for what it called “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition.”
The strategy declared that Europe faced “the prospect of civilizational extinction” due to its immigration policies and “failure to focus on regulatory suffocation.”
He also criticized European officials’ “unrealistic expectations” about the war between Russia and Ukraine, saying the United States had a “core interest” in ending the conflict.
A U.S. proposal to end the war that would allow Russia to keep vast swaths of territory in eastern Ukraine drew rare criticism from some European leaders last month.
NNS accused some European governments of being unresponsive to their people’s wishes for peace and of “subverting the democratic process” without offering any examples.
The document also suggested that the United States may withdraw the security umbrella it has long held over the Old Continent.
Instead, the US government will prioritize “enabling Europe to stand on its own two feet and operate as a group of allied sovereign states, including assuming primary responsibility for its own defense, without being dominated by any hostile power,” NNS reported.
Switch focus away from the Middle East
NSS stressed that the Middle East is no longer a top strategic priority for the United States.
The report says the past considerations that made the region so important – energy production and widespread conflict – “no longer apply.”
As the United States expands its own energy production, “the historic reasons for America’s focus on the Middle East will recede,” the strategy says.
The paper also argued that conflict and violence in the region was also subsiding, citing the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the US attack on Iran in June, which it said had “significantly degraded” Tehran’s nuclear program.
“Conflict remains the Middle East’s most vexing dynamic, but there is less to this problem today than the headlines would lead you to believe.”
The administration envisioned a rosy future for the region, saying the Middle East would “become a source and destination for international investment,” including in artificial intelligence, rather than dominating Washington’s interests.
The region is described as “emerging as a place for partnership, friendship and investment”.
In reality, however, the Middle East continues to be plagued by crisis and violence. Despite a ceasefire in Gaza, near-daily Israeli attacks continue, with deadly attacks on Palestinians by settlers and soldiers escalating in the occupied West Bank.
Israel has also stepped up airstrikes on Lebanon, raising fears of another all-out offensive against Lebanon to forcefully disarm the weakened Hezbollah.
A year has passed since the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Syria, and Israel is moving ahead with invasions and attacks across the occupied Golan Heights to take military control of the southern part of the country.
And with an uncompromising commitment to Israel’s security, the United States remains deeply entrenched in the region with a continued military presence in Syria, Iraq, and the Gulf.
The NSS acknowledges that the United States continues to have important interests in the Middle East, including “ensuring Israel’s security” and protecting energy supplies and sea lanes.
“But the days when the Middle East dominated American foreign policy, both in long-term planning and day-to-day implementation, are thankfully over, not because the Middle East is no longer important, but because it is no longer the constant irritant and potential source of impending catastrophe it once was,” the magazine said.
“Flexible realism”
The document states that the United States will pursue its own interests in its dealings with other countries, suggesting that the U.S. government will not promote the spread of democracy and human rights.
“We will pursue good relations and peaceful trade relations without imposing on the countries of the world democratic and other social changes that are radically different from tradition and history,” he said.
“We recognize and affirm that there is no contradiction or hypocrisy in acting on such realistic assessments or in maintaining good relations with countries whose governing systems and societies differ from ours, while promoting our interests, while urging like-minded friends to adhere to common norms.”
But this strategy suggests that the United States will still exert pressure on some countries, namely the West, over important values.
“We oppose elite-led, anti-democratic restrictions on core freedoms in Europe, the Anglosphere and the rest of the democratic world, especially in our allies.”
