Trump’s new National Security Strategy pushes global realism

President Donald Trump’s new National Security Strategy, released Dec. 4, largely charts a needed correction for the United States on military and foreign policy. Such papers are not meant to be followed literally. And the numerous federal departments resist any changes. Yet each NSS provides the prevailing tone a president wants to be followed by our country’s gigantic bureaucracies at the State Department, at the War (formerly Defense) Department and at the CIA, FBI and other intelligence agencies.

Released in Oct. 2022, President Joe Biden’s last NSS stressed, “We have reinvigorated America’s unmatched network of alliances and partnerships… NATO is stronger and more united than it has ever been.” 

By contrast, in the preface to his new NSS, Trump bluntly states his goal: “In everything we do, we are putting America first.” The document text insists: “The days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over.” Our allies are “wealthy, sophisticated nations that must assume primary responsibility for their regions and contribute far more to our collective defense.” 

This shows the NSS’s main theme: The world has shifted from what political scientists call the “unipolar” moment of the 1990s, when the U.S. dominated the world, to a “multipolar” world with three top powers: the U.S., China and Russia. The previous policy of attempting global dominance “undermined the very means necessary to achieve that goal: the character of our nation upon which its power, wealth, and decency were built.” 

I would add that’s best seen in the $8 trillion wasted on the post-9/11 wars, according to Brown University. That money could have been invested in factories, research and infrastructure to compete with China.

Trump’s NSS also moves strategic emphasis away from Europe toward China and the “Indo-Pacific.” Citing the Purchasing Power Parity calculation, it says that area now comprises almost half the world economy. “To thrive at home, we must successfully compete there—and we are,” it insists, touting Trump’s trade agreements from his Oct. 2025 trip to the region.

The NSS doesn’t mention how, after Trump threatened 100% tariffs on China, Beijing withheld crucial rare-earth minerals from the U.S. market, forcing him to retreat. Nor does it note how, according to PPP, China’s annual economy now is $41 trillion to America’s $30.6 trillion – a third bigger than ours. 

Turning to Russia and Europe, Trump’s NSS sensibly insists it’s an American “core interest” to end the Ukraine War and “stabilize European economies,” whose share of global GDP has shrunk from 25% in 1990 to 14% today. Europe faces “the stark prospect of civilizational erasure.” These words upset the European elites, but were tough love for our old allies.

The war must end to “reestablish strategic stability with Russia.” This is a crucial shift in tone on nuclear arms. Unfortunately, it doesn’t mention the New START Treaty with Russia, which expires on Feb. 5, and which limits each side to 1,550 nuclear delivery vehicles. The Russians have called for an extension for a year to negotiate a new agreement. 

Instead, earlier this year Trump suggested the U.S. could follow other nations in testing new nuclear weapons. The last thing we need is a dangerous and expensive new arms race.

On the Middle East, the NSS boasts how Trump’s June 2025 Operation Midnight Hammer attack “significantly degraded Iran’s nuclear program”; the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release “Trump negotiated” have brought “progress toward a more permanent peace”; and “American, Arab, Israeli, and Turkish support may stabilize” Syria. Although hopeful, the document sensibly is cautious on whether there will be lasting peace in the region.

Unfortunately, Trump’s America First posture includes a more aggressive stance toward Latin America, seen in his belligerence toward Venezuela. The Monroe Doctrine of 1823, among other things, warded off “future colonization by any European powers” in the Western Hemisphere. Well and good.