(AFP) – President Donald Trump laid out a radical realignment of US foreign policy Friday, shifting the longtime superpower’s focus from global to regional, brutally criticizing Europe as facing “civilizational erasure” and putting a top priority on eliminating mass migration. The national security strategy, meant to flesh out Trump’s norms-shattering worldview, elevates Latin America to the top of the US agenda in a sharp reorientation from longstanding US calls to focus on Asia to face a rising China. “In everything we do, we are putting America First,” Trump said in a preamble to the long-awaited paper.
Breaking with decades of attempts to be the sole superpower, the strategy stated that the “United States rejects the ill-fated concept of global domination for itself.” It asserted that the United States would also prevent other powers, namely China, from dominating but added: “This does not mean wasting blood and treasure to curtail the influence of all the world’s great and middle powers.” The strategy called for a “readjustment of our global military presence to address urgent threats in our Hemisphere,” starting with migration. “The era of mass migration must end,” the strategy emphasized.
The strategy made clear that the United States under Trump would aggressively pursue similar objectives in Europe, in line with far-right parties’ agendas. In extraordinary language addressing close allies, the strategy indicated that the administration would be “cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations.” Germany quickly hit back, stating that it does not need “outside advice.” The strategy pointed to Europe’s decline in share of the global economy, largely due to the rise of China and other emerging powers, noting: “This economic decline is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure.”
“Should present trends continue, the continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years or less.” As Trump seeks an end to the Ukraine war that would likely favor Russia gaining territory, the strategy accused Europeans of weakness and argued that the United States should focus on “ending the perception, and preventing the reality, of NATO as a perpetually expanding alliance.”
– Updated ‘Monroe Doctrine’ –
Since returning to office in January, Trump has ordered sweeping curbs on migration, after a political career built on fanning fears that America’s white majority is losing its status. The strategy speaks in bold terms of pressing US dominance in Latin America, where the Trump administration has been targeting alleged drug traffickers at sea, intervening to bring down leftist leaders including in Venezuela, and loudly seeking to take charge of key resources such as the Panama Canal. The strategy cast Trump as modernizing the two-century-old Monroe Doctrine, in which the then-young United States declared Latin America off-limits to rival powers. “We will assert and enforce a ‘Trump Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine,” it said.
The strategy paid comparatively little attention to the Middle East, which has long consumed Washington. Pointing to US efforts to increase energy supply at home rather than in the oil-rich Gulf, the strategy claimed: “America’s historic reason for focusing on the Middle East will recede.” The paper acknowledged the priority for Israel’s security but stopped short of the fulsome language on Israel used even in the first Trump administration.
– China still competitor –
On China, the strategy reiterated calls for a “free and open” Asia-Pacific region but focused more on the nation as an economic competitor. After much speculation on whether Trump would budge on Taiwan, the self-ruling democracy claimed by Beijing, the strategy clarified that the United States supports the decades-old status quo while calling on allies Japan and South Korea to contribute more to ensure Taiwan’s defense from China. The strategy predictably places little focus on Africa, suggesting that the United States should transition away from “liberal ideology” and an “aid-focused relationship,” emphasizing goals such as securing critical minerals.
US presidents usually release a National Security Strategy in each White House term. The last one, released by Joe Biden in 2022, prioritized winning a competitive edge over China while constraining a “dangerous” Russia.
– Shaun TANDON
© 2024 AFP
