President Donald Trump’s administration has introduced a new national security strategy that portrays European partners as increasingly fragile and emphasizes restoring U.S. authority throughout the Western Hemisphere.
Released Friday by the White House, the document is likely to unsettle long-standing allies in Europe due to its sharp criticism of their migration practices and restrictions on free expression. It warns that these nations risk “civilizational erasure” and questions their long-term dependability as U.S. partners.
The strategy underscores — often in blunt and forceful language — Trump’s “America First” worldview, which prioritizes U.S. interests, casts doubt on decades-old alliances, and prefers reduced involvement in overseas conflicts. According to the document, the policy framework “is driven above all by what benefits the United States — or, put simply, ‘America First.’”
This is the administration’s first national security strategy since Trump returned to office in January, fulfilling a legal requirement. It marks a significant departure from President Joe Biden’s approach, which aimed to strengthen alliances shaken during Trump’s earlier term and confront an increasingly assertive Russia.
The United States aims to help broker an end to Russia’s nearly four-year war in Ukraine — a priority the strategy describes as essential to American interests. At the same time, the document signals a desire to rebuild relations with Moscow after years of isolation, arguing that ending the conflict is critical to restoring “strategic stability with Russia.”
The strategy also levels strong criticism at U.S. allies in Europe, noting that their responses to the Russia-Ukraine conflict have sometimes clashed with Trump’s shifting stances. The document claims these countries are dealing with economic troubles and what it describes as a deeper existential dilemma.
Europe’s economic stagnation, it argues, pales in comparison to the “starker prospect of civilizational erasure.” The strategy attributes this perceived decline to immigration trends, falling birthrates, restrictions on speech, pressures on political opposition, and what it characterizes as a weakening sense of identity and confidence.
“If current trends persist, Europe could look entirely different within two decades,” the report states. “It is unclear whether some European nations will maintain the economic and military strength required to remain dependable allies. Many are doubling down on their current course. We want Europe to stay European and regain its cultural self-assurance.”
Despite the “America First” ethos, the administration has authorized multiple military operations against suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific and has considered possible military steps in Venezuela to pressure President Nicolás Maduro.
These actions reflect what the strategy calls a “‘Trump Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine.” First articulated in 1823, the Monroe Doctrine opposed European interference in the Western Hemisphere and later underpinned U.S. interventions in Latin America.
Trump’s national security strategy says the U.S. is redesigning its military posture in the region, even after establishing the largest presence there in decades. This includes “targeted deployments to secure the border and dismantle cartels, including the use of lethal force when necessary to replace the ineffective law-enforcement-only model of recent decades.”
