Donald Trump’s USA returns to Monroe Doctrine

Key Highlights of National Security Strategy 2025

• Rejection of Global Dominance: Breaking with decades of attempts to be the sole superpower, the strategy says that the “United States rejects the ill-fated concept of global domination for itself. The United States would also prevent other powers, namely China, from dominating. “This does not mean wasting blood and treasure to curtail the influence of all the world’s great and middle powers.”
• Readjustment of US global military presence: The strategy calls for a “readjustment of our global military presence to address urgent threats in western Hemisphere, starting with migration.
• Rejection of mass migration: The strategy clearly says that “The era of mass migration must end.” Anti-migration stance is also evident in its engagement with Europe where its talks about cultivating resistance to current liberal migration policies in Europe.
• About Europe: US administration would be “cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations.” It pointed out the Europe’s slide in share of global economy, which is the result largely of the rise of China and other emerging powers’. It underscored about the cultural decline. “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.”
• On NATO: United States should focus on “ending the perception, and preventing the reality, of NATO as a perpetually expanding alliance.”
• Back to Monroe Doctrine: The strategy talks about pressing US dominance in Latin America which has been visible in the form of striking 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. It says that USA will assert and enforce a ‘Trump Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine’.
• About Middle East: Less focus on middle east. Pointing to US efforts to increase energy supply at home and not in the oil-rich Gulf, the strategy says that America’s historic reason for focusing on the Middle East will recede.
• On Israel: It is a U.S. priority for Israel to be secure., but there is less emphasis compared to previous Trump administration.
• On China: On China, the strategy repeated calls for a “free and open” Asia-Pacific region but focused more on the nation as an economic competitor.
• On Taiwan: United States supports the decades-old status quo, but called on allies Japan and South Korea to contribute more to ensure Taiwan’s defence from China.
• On Africa: There is little focus on Africa. the United States should transition away from “liberal ideology” and an “aid-focused relationship” and emphasize goals such as securing critical minerals.