{"id":333790,"date":"2025-12-06T20:14:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T20:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/333790\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T20:14:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T20:14:07","slug":"trumps-national-security-strategy-sparks-european-backlash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/333790\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s National Security Strategy Sparks European Backlash"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new national security strategy<\/a> released by the White House calls for asserting U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere and \u201ccultivating resistance\u201d within Europe, while reestablishing \u201cstrategic stability\u201d with Russia and accepting the Middle East and its leaders \u201cas they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

The strategy released late Thursday, which builds on President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cAmerica First<\/a>\u201d maxim, marks a sharp escalation of his Administration\u2019s criticism of the country\u2019s European allies and a broader realignment of U.S. foreign policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis document is a roadmap to ensure that America remains the greatest and most successful nation<\/a> in human history,\u201d Trump wrote in the foreword. \u201cIn the years ahead, we will continue to develop every dimension of our national strength\u2014and we will make America safer, richer, freer, greater, and more powerful than ever before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more: What Trump Doesn\u2019t Understand About Alliances<\/a><\/p>\n

Several current and former European officials have pushed back on the strategy, which asserts that Europe is facing the \u201cprospect of civilizational erasure,\u201d alleging that \u201cit is more than plausible that within a few decades at the latest, certain NATO members will become majority non-European\u201d; and calls for the U.S. to take steps to help the continent \u201ccorrect its current trajectory.\u201d<\/p>\n

“It’s language that one otherwise only finds coming out of some bizarre minds of the Kremlin,” former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt<\/a> posted on X, saying the document places the U.S. \u201cto the right of the extreme right in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stunning section devoted to Europe reads like a far-right pamphlet,\u201d G\u00e9rard Araud, a former French ambassador to the United States, similarly observed in an X post<\/a>, noting that the document \u201clargely confirms\u201d perceptions that Trump is an \u201cenemy of Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more: History Shows How Dangerous \u2018America First\u2019 Really Is<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking in Berlin on Friday, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul noted that the U.S. was and would remain \u201cour most important ally\u201d in the NATO alliance, but said his country did not need \u201coutside advice.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the U.S., Democratic lawmakers also raised alarm about the strategy, with Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut writing<\/a> on X that it \u201cforeshadows setbacks\u2014forsaking allies, throwing Ukraine under the bus, & abandoning key strategic goals & basic values.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Daniel Fried, a distinguished fellow at the Atlantic Council who previously served as the National Security Council’s senior director for Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, ambassador to Poland, and assistant secretary of state for Europe, said the strategy had an \u201cinternal incoherence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe strategy\u2019s ideological hostility toward Europe combines with its implied bitterness over perceived US overextension and general disdain for \u2018values\u2019 to drive US withdrawal from leadership of the free world\u2014and even the concept of the free world itself,\u201d Fried said<\/a> in a statement on Friday. \u201cAt the same time, the NSS elsewhere recognizes that the United States will need its friends, Europe included, to contend with its adversaries, especially China.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He added, however, that \u201cto a policy practitioner, the incoherence could provide an opportunity to build on the NSS\u2019s better elements.\u201d<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what to know about the 33-page strategy document and the vision it lays out for the U.S.\u2019s approach to the world.<\/p>\n

A \u2018Trump Corollary\u2019 to the Monroe Doctrine<\/p>\n

The strategy calls for the revival of the Monroe Doctrine, which was first laid out in 1823 by then-President James Monroe to oppose European interference in affairs in the Western Hemisphere, in order \u201dto restore American preeminence\u201d in the hemisphere and \u201cprotect our homeland and our access to key geographies throughout the region.\u201d<\/p>\n

The document adds, in line with Monroe\u2019s original aims when formulating the doctrine, that the U.S. will \u201cdeny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Administration described this piece of its security strategy as a \u201c’Trump Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine.\u201d<\/p>\n

To carry it out, the document lays out plans to enlist partners in the region\u2014including both countries aligned with U.S. \u201cprinciples and strategy\u201d and those with different outlooks but shared interests\u2014to help \u201ccontrol migration, stop drug flows, and strengthen stability and security on land and sea.\u201d It also calls for the U.S. to shift its global military presence away from other regions whose relative significance to its national security has declined and toward the Western Hemisphere \u201cto address urgent threats.\u201d<\/p>\n

The U.S. has already amassed its largest military deployment in the Americas in decades as it wages what Trump has described as an \u201carmed conflict\u201d against cartels. Since early September, U.S. forces have carried out more than 20 lethal strikes on alleged drug boats, killing more than 87 people. At the same time, the Administration has intensified pressure on Venezuela\u2014whose president, Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, faces U.S. drug-trafficking charges\u2014warning that land strikes on the country could come \u201cvery soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the military, the strategy also emphasizes tariffs and \u201creciprocal trade agreements\u201d as tools that will be used \u201cto strengthen our own economy and industries\u201d in the hemisphere.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018Cultivating resistance\u2019 in Europe<\/p>\n

A section of the plan, called \u201cPromoting European Greatness,\u201d asserts that Europe faces the \u201cprospect of civilizational erasure,\u201d citing what it identifies as key issues on the continent without naming specific leaders or nations.<\/p>\n

Among the purported issues it claims Europe is facing are migration policies, \u201ccensorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition,\u201d falling birthrates, and \u201closs of national identities and self-confidence,\u201d which it argues are weakening the continent and putting it on a path to becoming \u201cunrecognizable\u201d in 20 years or less.<\/p>\n

The document calls for the U.S. to take a more active role in the continent\u2019s political affairs, including by \u201ccultivating resistance to Europe\u2019s current trajectory within European nations.\u201d It also notes, positively, \u201cthe growing influence of patriotic European parties\u201d\u2014likely a reference to far-right, anti-immigration parties that have earned the public backing of the Administration.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The paper adopts the racist conspiracy theory known as the \u201cGreat Replacement Theory,\u201d arguing that many NATO countries will soon be \u201cnon-European\u201d due to mass immigration. As the theory has left the confines of internet forums and white nationalist sites and into the mainstream of prime-time cable news<\/a> and political speeches, it has fueled racially based violence<\/a> across the globe.<\/p>\n

Beyond this, the document breaks from European officials in their reluctance to name Russia as a threat. It says Europe has a \u201csignificant hard power advantage\u201d but \u201cregard[s] Russia as an existential threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

The document builds on an already adversarial relationship between the Trump Administration and Europe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some of the document echoes Vice President J.D. Vance\u2019s antagonistic speech<\/a> at the Munich Security Conference earlier this year, in which Vance criticized European nations for their policies on free speech and argued that the continent’s gravest danger was not Russia nor China, but their own governments.<\/p>\n

The Administration calls the negotiated end to Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine a \u201ccore interest\u201d for Europe, but criticizes nations that \u201chold unrealistic expectations for the war perched in unstable minority governments, many of which trample on basic principles of<\/p>\n

democracy to suppress opposition.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

It claims that \u201ca large European majority wants peace, yet that desire is not translated into policy, in large measure because of those governments\u2019 subversion of democratic processes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The policy also states that its policy for Europe should focus on \u201cending the perception, and preventing the reality, of NATO as a perpetually expanding alliance.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deterring conflict in Taiwan\u00a0<\/p>\n

The strategy document calls deterring a conflict over Taiwan a \u201cpriority,\u201d and says the ideal way to achieve that is by \u201cpreserving military overmatch.\u201d<\/p>\n

It says a war between Taiwan and China would have \u201cmajor implications for the U.S. economy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taiwan\u2019s foreign ministry welcomed the U.S. position in a social media post on Friday morning: \u201cThe US National Security Strategy affirms that deterring conflict over Taiwan is essential to the region & the world,\u201d it wrote on X<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The document emphasizes that the U.S. should aim to maintain dominance in the Western Hemisphere, an obvious nod to China\u2019s growing relationship <\/a>with Latin American and Caribbean nations, through expanding trade routes and political alliances.<\/p>\n

Taking Middle Eastern nations \u2018as they are\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

The document lambasts European leaders while simultaneously promising to stop \u201chectoring\u201d Gulf monarchies like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) into \u201cabandoning their traditions.\u201d As the document claims to view these nations as \u201ca source and destination of international investment\u201d\u2014and as Trump seemingly prioritizes the<\/a> broader U.S.-Saudi relationship\u2014the language shows a clear difference in how the Trump Administration views these leaders compared with Europeans.<\/p>\n

Trump has amassed significant personal investments in the region and, earlier this year, visited<\/a> many states in the Middle East. He went on to host Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman<\/a> in his first visit to the White House since he was blamed for the killing of American journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which sparked international outcry. <\/p>\n

The strategy document includes less detailed but equally dominant goals for its presence in the Middle East, designed to \u201cprevent an adversarial power from dominating\u201d the region, specifically in the oil and gas industries and preventing \u201cforever wars.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plan touts Trump\u2019s ability to retain good standing in the region, \u201creinforced by President Trump\u2019s successful revitalization of our alliances in the Gulf, with other Arab partners, and with Israel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plans for further investment in the region were at the core of the document\u2019s approach to the Middle East, which it says will \u201cincreasingly become a source and destination of international investment, and in industries well beyond oil and gas\u2014 including nuclear energy, AI, and defense technologies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The plan echoed similar goals for regions in Africa, where \u201charnessing Africa\u2019s abundant natural resources and latent economic potential\u201d stands at the core of the agenda.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Administration wants to \u201ctransition from a foreign aid paradigm to an investment and growth paradigm\u201d on the continent.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Trump shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development, halting the flow of aid into multiple African countries, which experts<\/a> have said will lead to thousands of deaths.<\/p>\n

The document clearly shows a deprioritization of resources devoted to Middle Eastern and African stability, focusing clearly on a shifted focus towards the Western Hemisphere, which mirrors the Trump Administration\u2019s military priorities and focus on Venezuela in the first year in office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new national security strategy released by the White House calls for asserting U.S. dominance in the Western…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,12,1922,3,7688,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-333790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-donald-trump","tag-foreign-policy","tag-news","tag-news-desk","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}