Listen to the article
By Sean Rayment
President Donald Trump intends for the US to maintain a larger military presence in the Western Hemisphere going forward to combat migration, drugs and the rise of adversarial powers in the region, according to his new National Security Strategy.
The 33-page document is a rare formal explanation of the Trump administration’s foreign policy worldview.
Such strategies, which presidents typically release once per term, can help shape how parts of the US government allocate budgets and set policy priorities.
Publication of the strategy comes as Russia has welcomed US President Donald Trump’s new National Security Strategy, calling it “largely consistent” with Moscow’s vision.
The document, unveiled by the US administration this week, suggests Europe is facing “civilisational erasure” and does not cast Russia as a threat to the US.
Combatting foreign influence, ending mass migration and rejecting the EU’s perceived practice of “censorship” are mentioned as other priorities in the report.
Several EU officials and analysts have pushed back on the strategy, questioning its focus on freedom of expression and likening it to language used by the Kremlin.
“The adjustments we are seeing are largely consistent with our vision,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in an interview published by Russia’s state news agency Tass on Sunday.
“We consider this a positive step,” he said, adding that Moscow would continue to analyse the document before drawing strong conclusions.
The strategy adopts softer language towards Russia, which EU officials worry could weaken its stance towards Moscow as it pushes for an end to the war in Ukraine.
In the document, the EU is blamed for blocking US efforts to end the conflict. It says that the US must “re-establish strategic stability to Russia”, which would “stabilise European economies”.
It also appears to endorse efforts to influence policy on the continent, noting that US policy should prioritise “resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations”.
The new report calls for the restoration of “Western identity” and claims that Europe will be “unrecognisable in 20 years or less”, with its economic issues “eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilisational erasure”.
“It is far from obvious whether certain European countries will have economies and militaries strong enough to remain reliable allies,” the document states.
In stark contrast, the document celebrates the influence of “patriotic European parties” and says “America encourages its political allies in Europe to promote this revival of spirit”.
As the EU engages in ongoing talks with the Trump administration to set out a peace deal in Ukraine, some officials have emphasised their lasting relationship with the US, while raising “questions” over the document.
“The US will remain our most important ally in the Nato alliance. This alliance, however, is focused on addressing security policy issues,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Friday.
“I believe questions of freedom of expression or the organisation of our free societies do not belong in the strategy, at least when it comes to Germany.”
In a social media post addressed to his “American friends”, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that “Europe is your closest ally, not your problem” and noted their “common enemies”.
“This is the only reasonable strategy for our common security. Unless something has changed.”
Meanwhile, former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt wrote that the document “places itself to the right of the extreme right”.
The Trump administration has fostered links with the far-right AfD party in Germany, which has been classified as extreme right by German intelligence.
Promoting an “America First” message, the strategy says the US intends to target alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean, and is considering possible military action in Venezuela.
The US also calls for increased defence spending from Japan, South Korea, Australia and Taiwan.
Democrats in Congress have warned that the document could shatter US foreign relations.
Representative Jason Crow of Colorado, who sits on House committees overseeing intelligence and the armed forces, called the strategy “catastrophic to America’s standing in the world”.
New York Representative Gregory Meeks said it “discards decades of value-based US leadership”.