As the year drew to a close, Donald Trump's administration released the new U.S. National Security Strategy. This key document outlining the foreign and defense policies of the United States has sparked significant discussions both domestically and across our Eurasian continent. Moreover, the assessments vary widely. Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko, for instance, stated that this document would be a gift to the entire world. What did the Belarusian head of state mean, and how do Brussels and Moscow see the new U.S. strategy? Let’s delve into this much-talked-about document.
Key points of the new U.S. National Security Strategy
The foreword to the strategy was Donald Trump's address to his fellow Americans. In his characteristic manner, the U.S. president described the crisis facing the United States and the initial steps taken by his administration, which essentially steered the country away from the brink of disaster. A familiar phrase, isn't it?
“Over the past nine months, we have brought our nation—and the world—back from the brink of catastrophe and disaster. After four years of weakness, extremism, and deadly failures, my administration has moved with urgency and historic speed to restore American strength at home and abroad, and bring peace and stability to our world. No administration in history has achieved so dramatic a turnaround in so short a time,” the U.S. leader said.
Listing the major achievements of his presidency (from “restoring the sovereign borders of the United States” to “securing peace in eight conflicts”), Donald Trump concluded that America is once again strong and respected and precisely because of this, the United States is bringing peace to the world.
According to the U.S. president, the new National Security Strategy is a "roadmap designed to ensure that America retains its status as the greatest and most successful nation in human history and the home of freedom on Earth."
Priorities in the U.S. national security
The strategy consists of several parts. The first outlines its historical context, beginning from the Cold War era, and explains why Trump needed to revise this document (spoiler: to "usher in a new golden age for the country"). “After the end of the Cold War, American foreign policy elites convinced themselves that permanent American domination of the entire world was in the best interests of our country. Yet the affairs of other countries are our concern only if their activities directly threaten our interests.”
Next, the strategy outlines the domestic interests of the United States (in brief, to become the most advanced country in every sense of the word) and its geopolitical expectations.
The third part of the document enumerates all the means at the country’s disposal to achieve its goals. But the most intriguing part is saved for last. In the final section of the strategy, the White House lays out its principles and priorities, addressing key regions one by one.
The central theme of the U.S. National Security Strategy is “America First”. Therefore, the leadership of the United States declares its readiness to adopt a flexible approach: the key is that the anticipated outcomes align with national interests. However, they describe this more poetically. Donald Trump’s foreign policy, as stated in the strategy, is “muscular without being ‘hawkish’, restrained without being ‘dovish’.”
American foreign, defense, and intelligence policies must be driven by the following basic principles: Focused Definition of the National Interest, Peace Through Strength, Predisposition to Non-Interventionism, Flexible Realism, Primacy of Nations, Sovereignty and Respect, Balance of Power, Pro-American Worker, Fairness, Competence and Merit.
The first of the priorities outlined by the White House is “The Era of Mass Migration Is Over”. In countries throughout the world, mass migration has strained domestic resources, increased violence and other crime, weakened social cohesion, distorted labor markets, and undermined national security.
The other stated priorities are the following: Protection of Core Rights and Liberties, Burden-Sharing and Burden-Shifting, Realignment Through Peace, Economic Security, Balanced Trade, Securing Access to Critical Supply Chains and Materials, Reindustrialization, Reviving our Defense Industrial Base, Energy Dominance, Preserving and Growing America’s Financial Sector Dominance
What are the U.S. goals in Asia?
The United States has ambitious plans for Asia: to secure its economic future and prevent military confrontation. Specifically, it aims to strengthen its presence in the Indo-Pacific region and rebalance its economic relationship with China to restore America’s economic independence.
“If America remains on a growth path—and can sustain that while maintaining a genuinely mutually advantageous economic relationship with Beijing—we should be headed from our present $30 trillion economy in 2025 to $40 trillion in the 2030s, putting our country in an enviable position to maintain our status as the world’s leading economy. Importantly, this must be accompanied by a robust and ongoing focus on deterrence to prevent war in the Indo-Pacific.”
The Trump administration has stated its intent to enhance commercial relations with India to encourage New Delhi to contribute to Indo-Pacific security, including through continued quadrilateral cooperation with Australia, Japan, and the United States (“the Quad”).
“We must encourage Europe, Japan, Korea, Australia, Canada, Mexico, and other prominent nations in adopting trade policies that help rebalance China’s economy toward household consumption, because Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East cannot alone absorb China’s enormous excess capacity. The exporting nations of Europe and Asia can also look to middle-income countries as a limited but growing market for their exports,” the document reads.
In other words, the United States views China as its primary economic rival not only in Asia but globally. Admittedly, the unfolding rivalry would be more comfortable to watch in a movie theater or from one’s sofa if it were merely a blockbuster plot. Yet it appears this is becoming our reality.
What the U.S. expects from Europe
While America and China have long been locked in a race where the United States’ updated approach comes as no surprise, the criticism directed at Europe in the U.S. National Security Strategy is striking. This section of the document sparked intense debate in Brussels, where officials were still processing U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance’s Munich speech, which openly and sharply criticized the leadership of European nations.
The National Security Strategy notes the economic decline in Europe (its share of global GDP has fallen from 25% in 1990 to 14% today) and states that all of this pales in comparison to “the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure”.
“The larger issues facing Europe include activities of the European Union and other transnational bodies that undermine political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-confidence,” the White House believes.
If current trends continue, the continent will become unrecognizable in 20 years or less, the Trump administration is convinced.
“This lack of self-confidence is most evident in Europe’s relationship with Russia. European allies enjoy a significant hard power advantage over Russia by almost every measure, save nuclear weapons. As a result of Russia’s war in Ukraine, European relations with Russia are now deeply attenuated, and many Europeans regard Russia as an existential threat. Managing European relations with Russia will require significant U.S. diplomatic engagement, both to reestablish conditions of strategic stability across the Eurasian landmass, and to mitigate the risk of conflict between Russia and European states,” the document reads.
The USA has drawn attention to an intriguing observation. The Ukraine war has had the perverse effect of increasing Europe’s, especially Germany’s, external dependencies. Today, German chemical companies are building some of the world’s largest processing plants in China, using Russian gas that they cannot obtain at home. The Trump Administration finds itself at odds with European officials who hold unrealistic expectations for the war.
“A large European majority wants peace, yet that desire is not translated into policy, in large measure because of those governments’ subversion of democratic processes. This is strategically important to the United States precisely because European states cannot reform themselves if they are trapped in political crisis,” the developers of the strategy note and stress: “Our goal should be to help Europe correct its current trajectory. We will need a strong Europe to help us successfully compete, and to work in concert with us to prevent any adversary.”
What are the U.S. interests in the Middle East and Africa?
For half a century at least, American foreign policy has prioritized the Middle East above all other regions. The Middle East was for decades the world’s most important supplier of energy, including to the USA, was a prime theater of superpower competition. Everything has changed today. So has the U.S. strategy.
“The region will increasingly become a source and destination of international investment, and in industries well beyond oil and gas, including nuclear energy, AI, and defense technologies. The USA can also work with Middle East partners to advance other economic interests, from securing supply chains to bolstering opportunities to develop friendly and open markets in other parts of the world such as Africa,” the strategy reads.
As for Africa, the USA is ready to ameliorate conflict, foster mutually beneficial trade relationships, and transition from a “foreign aid paradigm to an investment and growth paradigm capable of harnessing Africa’s abundant natural resources and latent economic potential.”
How Russia views the U.S. National Security Strategy
Russia’s Presidential Executive Office noted that the new U.S. strategy emphasizes the need for dialogue, which appeals to Russia.
“It talks about the need for dialogue and for building constructive, friendly relations. It cannot fail to impress, and it is absolutely in line with our vision,” said Dmitry Peskov, Press Secretary for the Russian president.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the U.S. leadership has seriously rethought the USA’s foreign policy.
“First and foremost, the revision of Washington’s previous bet on hegemony is noteworthy. The document explicitly states that ‘American elites have made serious miscalculations’ by making ‘a highly flawed and destructive bet on globalism.’ Certainly, time will tell how much Donald Trump’s administration will be able to truly take into account this difficult admission for America itself. Nevertheless, as it seems, at the moment the very recognition of the bankruptcy of the globalist model is significant,” said the Russian diplomat.
In her words, it is also important that Russia is mentioned in the document in the context of pan-European security, and there are no calls for its systematic containment and increased economic pressure. “Nevertheless, without directly naming Moscow, Washington has loudly announced its plans to achieve ‘energy dominance’ by ‘reducing the influence of its opponents’ in the new version of the strategy. These words clearly reveal the desire to continue to oust Russia from global energy markets by any available means,” Maria Zakharova reads between the lines.
Criticism of Europe is particularly noteworthy in analytical circles. The Russian publicist and expert on the work of security agencies Sergei Karnaukhov noted in an interview with BelTA’s YouTube project On Point that the new U.S. National Security Strategy had been published without much fanfare and that many had been surprised by the approaches of the United States of America.
“When we started reading it, we gasped. European leaders gasped first because it clearly stated that America no longer needs Europe in its current form, that it does not suit America. America will no longer feed Europe. If Europe wants to continue dealing with various global problems, it can do so at its own expense, no problem. Do what you want, but coordinate with us and you will buy weapons from us,” the expert noted.
Sergei Karnaukhov went on saying that in this manner Donald Trump continued his policy regarding mutual relations with Europe. “We did not see anything in this strategy that Trump had not already said. In other words, this is Trump’s strategy: America first. It means that the world we’d imagined has probably come to an end,” the expert emphasized.
How Europe reacted to the new U.S. strategy
The new approaches of the United States have caused a painful reaction among the main admirers of the USA - in Poland. In particular, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has reacted to the document. He published a desperate post on the social network X: “Dear American friends! Europe is your closest ally, not your problem. We have common enemies. At least, that has been the case for the last 80 years. We should stick to this. It is the only sensible strategy for our common security. Unless, of course, something has changed.”
With over 39 million views already, the post’s most popular comment was by a user urging the Polish prime minister to just “take a look at a few of the people walking around Brussels and tell me if you think anything has changed in the last 80 years.” The implication is clear.
Even Australian politicians decided to respond to Donald Tusk. “The European people are our friends and allies but the European Union and its unaccountable bureaucracy is a globalist tyranny that must be dismantled,” Australian Senator Ralph Babet wrote.
Former EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell also used the U.S. social media platform to vent his frustration.
“[J.D.] Vance already made his contempt for Europe clear in Munich; Trump has now elevated it to the level of a National Security Strategy. It is a declaration of political war on the EU. He wants a white Europe divided into nations, subordinate to his demands and voting preferences,” Josep Borrell wrote. “European leaders must stop pretending that Trump is not our adversary, hiding behind a fearful and complacent silence, and instead assert the EU’s sovereignty – technological, in security and defense, and political.”
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul noted that the USA is and will remain Germany’s most important ally in NATO, but they do not need external advice.
Former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt also made no secret of his disappointment, noting: “In saying that Europe faces ‘civilizational erasure’ the Trump new security strategy places itself to the right of the extreme right in Europe. Its language that one otherwise only finds coming out of some bizarre minds of the Kremlin.”
European Council President António Costa also criticized any attempts at political interference in European affairs. According to him, Washington has no right to decide for European citizens what policy is right or who they should vote for. Interesting, isn’t it? Aren’t these exactly the principles Brussels adheres to in relations with other countries?
European Commissioner for Defense and Space Andrius Kubilius suggested that the U.S. National Security Strategy aims to undermine European unity.
Meanwhile, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, discussing this document on X, called it the most important and interesting of recent years. “It speaks about Brussels in the same tone that the Biden administration and Brussels used when speaking about us. What goes around comes around,” the Hungarian politician noted, and it’s hard to disagree with him. “The Americans also see that Europe has hit the wall of a long economic dead end. A weak ally cannot defend itself and cannot be relied upon in international affairs either. They see Europe’s civilizational crisis as well. They see that Europe’s civilizational values, democracy, and the free market are all in danger. They also see that European liberals have burned the network of relations that once existed with Russia, which was a mistake.”
What Lukashenko said about the new U.S. strategy
In a recent interview with the U.S. media company Newsmax, the Belarusian head of state described the newly released strategy as a solid document. “If it comes to fruition, it will be a gift to the world,” he affirmed.
He believes that U.S. President Donald Trump is currently taking the correct course of action, particularly by focusing not only on foreign policy but also on addressing domestic political and economic issues. “This is absolutely right,” the president said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko noted that his U.S. counterpart has accomplished a lot in foreign policy.
“It does not matter whether he stopped seven or eight wars or conflicts. But that is his aim. He is achieving some success. If this conflict in Ukraine is stopped with Trump’s help, he will make history. He won’t need any Nobel Prize. He will go down in history as the president of peace. Which is not something you can say about the others after Roosevelt [Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who led the USA from 1933 until his death in 1945],” the president said.
Aleksandr Lukashenko emphasized that Donald Trump stands out in this regard, especially when compared to that U.S. administration “which tried to forcefully bend the whole world, by using both economic and military means.”
How the new U.S. national security strategy could affect Belarus
Belarus is certainly not mentioned directly in this document. However, when discussing priorities in Europe, the White House specifically highlights “support for stable states in Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe through commercial ties, arms sales, political cooperation, and cultural and educational exchanges”, as well as “the need to end the perception of NATO as an endlessly expanding alliance and prevent that perception from becoming reality”.
We can see how this is being put into practice through the careful development of Belarus-U.S. contacts. In their strategy, the United States warns that it will prioritize its own interests, while at the same time encouraging other countries to place their own interests above all else as well.
This approach is in line with the position of the Belarusian side. “Practice has shown that the Americans conduct all these contacts solely for pragmatic purposes,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said at one of the meetings. “Naturally, our policy to restore relations with the United States must also be based exclusively on Belarus’ national interests.”
Today we can see Belarus and the United States, setting aside past prejudices and working to normalize their bilateral relations. This aligns with the new U.S. strategy. In the end, everyone benefits from this. As for the EU, concerned about “external influence” and the “legitimization of the Lukashenko government”, may continue drifting along the sidelines of the European region.
Photos by AP, Getty Images, BelTA
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