Trump’s security strategy slams Europe, asserts power in Western Hemisphere : NPR

President Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Tuesday, as Secretary of State Marco Rubio (left) and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth look on.

Julia Démarée Nikhinson/AP

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Julia Démarée Nikhinson/AP

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s administration has outlined a new national security strategy that portrays European allies as weak and aims to reassert U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere.

The document released Friday by the White House is sure to upset longtime U.S. allies in Europe for its scathing criticism of their policies on migration and free speech, suggesting they face the “prospect of civilizational erasure” and raising doubts about their long-term reliability as U.S. partners.

At the same time as the administration is sharply criticizing its Democratic allies in Europe and waging a pressure campaign for boat strikes in South America, it is castigating past U.S. efforts to shape or criticize Middle Eastern countries and seeking to discourage attempts at change in those countries’ governments and policies.

This strategy reinforces, in sometimes cold and bellicose terms, Trump’s “America First” philosophy, which favors non-intervention abroad, calls into question decades of strategic relationships and puts American interests first.

America’s strategy “is driven above all by what works for America – or, in two words, ‘America First,'” the document says.

It is the first national security strategy, a document the administration has been required by law to release since the Republican president returned to office in January. It’s a stark departure from the path set by President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration, which sought to reinvigorate alliances after many were shaken during Trump’s first term and rein in a more assertive Russia.

Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado, who sits on the House committees overseeing intelligence and the armed services, called the strategy “catastrophic for America’s standing in the world and a withdrawal from our alliances and partnerships.”

“The world will become more dangerous and Americans will be less safe if this plan goes forward,” Crow said.

Criticism of Europe

The United States seeks to end Russia’s nearly four-year-old war in Ukraine, a goal that the National Security Strategy says is in America’s vital interest. But the document makes clear that the United States wants to improve relations with Russia after years of Moscow being treated as a global pariah and that ending the war is a core U.S. interest to “restore strategic stability with Russia.”

The document also accuses America’s longtime European allies, who have at times found themselves at odds with Trump’s shifting approaches to the Russia-Ukraine war, of facing not only domestic economic challenges but, according to the United States, an existential crisis.

Economic stagnation in Europe “is overshadowed by the real and darker prospect of civilizational erasure,” the strategy document says.

The United States suggests that Europe is weakened by its immigration policies, falling birth rates, “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition” and a “loss of national identities and self-confidence.”

“If current trends continue, the continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years or less. As such, it is far from clear that some European countries will have economies and militaries strong enough to remain reliable allies,” the document says.

The document also nods to the rise of far-right political parties in Europe, which have clearly opposed illegal immigration and climate policies.

“America encourages its political allies in Europe to promote this renewal of spirit, and the growing influence of European patriotic parties indeed gives rise to great optimism,” the strategy states.

German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul acknowledged that the United States was “our most important ally” within NATO, but said questions about freedom of expression or “the organization of our free societies” were not part of the alliance’s discussions.

“We also believe that no one needs to give us advice on this,” Wadephul told reporters.

Markus Frohnmaier, a lawmaker for the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany party, described the U.S. strategy as “a reality check on Europe’s and Germany’s foreign policy in particular.”

Aiming for power in the Americas

Despite Trump’s maxim of “America First,” his administration has carried out a series of military strikes against suspected drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, while evaluating possible military action in Venezuela to pressure President Nicolas Maduro.

These measures are part of what the national security strategy presents as “a ‘Trump corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine” aimed at “restoring American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere.” The Monroe Doctrine of 1823, formulated by President James Monroe, was originally intended to oppose European interference in the Western Hemisphere and was used to justify American military interventions in Latin America.

Trump’s strategy document says he aims to combat drug trafficking and control migration. The United States is also rethinking its military footprint in the region, even after establishing the largest military presence there in generations.

This means, for example, “targeted deployments to secure the border and defeat the cartels, including, if necessary, the use of lethal force to replace the failed strategy of recent decades focused solely on maintaining order,” it says.

Shifting attention away from the Middle East

Turning to the Americas, the United States will seek a different approach in the Middle East.

The United States, according to this strategy, should abandon America’s “misguided experiment in harassing” Middle Eastern nations, particularly the Gulf monarchies, over their traditions and forms of government.

Trump has strengthened ties with countries in the region and sees Middle Eastern countries as ripe for economic opportunities, and Arab countries “emerging as a place of partnership, friendship and investment,” the document said.

“We should encourage and applaud reforms when they emerge organically, without seeking to impose them,” he says.

This year, Trump made his first major foreign trip to the Middle East, and his efforts to end the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza have been a central focus. But the United States is considering turning away from the region, the administration says, because America is less dependent on its oil supplies.

“Rebalance” of American relations with China

Meanwhile, as the United States under Trump has reversed decades of free trade policies with drastic global tariffs, its ties with China have been in focus. America under Trump seeks to “rebalance” U.S.-China relations while countering Beijing’s aggressive stance toward Taiwan, the document said.

The Trump administration wants to prevent a war against Taiwan, the autonomous island that Beijing claims as its own and to which the United States is obliged by its own laws to provide military support, maintaining a military advantage over China.

But the United States wants its allies in the region to do more to resist Chinese pressure and contribute more to its defense.

“The U.S. military cannot, and should not have to, do this alone,” the strategy states. “Our allies must step up their efforts and spend – and above all do – much more on collective defense.”