WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s new Trump National Security Strategy portrays the Western Hemisphere as the cockpit of both American influence and its competition with China, revives a 19th-century US policy of intervention through a self-proclaimed “Trump corollary”, and warns that Europe is facing imminent “civilizational erasure,” Dec. 5, 2025.
The 29-page Trump National Security Strategy, made public by the White House late Thursday afternoon, ossifies a worldview that elicited giddy smiles in capitals from Moscow to Beijing while straining longtime bond with Western Europe, promising a long-term buildup of America’s armed forces in the Caribbean and Latin America and raising through new skepticism the reliability of longstanding European allies like Canada and signaling a potential reassessment of its commitments under NATO. At home, it frames migration, drug cartels and “hostile foreign incursion” as the core threats to national security, and he calls for ending the war in Ukraine via a negotiated settlement that would involve re-engaging Russia.
Trump National Security Strategy shift in hemispheric priorities
Central to the Trump administration’s National Security Strategy is a pledge to “assert and enforce” the Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, which would commit Washington to prohibiting non-hemispheric powers from stationing forces or acquiring — in any way — “strategically vital assets” — apparently including political influence or votes at international trade meetings — anywhere in the Western Hemisphere. In a Reuters summary of the document, this change is labelled “flexible realism,” proclaiming that U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere is vital to global security.
The Trump administration’s national security strategy foresees an increased Navy and Coast Guard presence across the Gulf of Mexico and southern Pacific, new forward operating bases, and, potentially, lethal force against cartels “in depth” — in territory beyond the United States. At the same time, it requires shifting some forces and focus from the Middle East and parts of European commitments, while maintaining a position of deterrence in the Western Pacific against China (whose status with Taiwan must remain intentionally ambiguous) and a clear continued commitment elsewhere in Europe.
Trump’s National Security Strategy differs from Europe on “civilizational erasure”
In brusque language, the Trump National Security Strategy presents Europe, a continent in demographic and cultural decline that needs saving — from migrants, Muslims and the “bureaucracy in Brussels.” In an Associated Press article, the piece not only wonders which NATO member states will actually share U.S. objectives during “the next decade,” but it also warns that Washington’s future support hinges on European governments who embrace “Western identity.”
The document openly aligns with nationalist parties in the European Union that are opposed to deeper integration and bemoans European leaders for dragging out the war in eastern Ukraine rather than seeking rapid negotiations with Moscow. Analysts suggest this amounts to a cultural “clash of civilisations” with European liberals and could test an already-tenuous transatlantic relationship, despite White House insistence it still wants “strong partners” on the continent.
‘Trump Corollary’ is the culmination of years of the Monroe Doctrine’s revival.
The Trump National Security Strategy both formulates the Trump corollary and caps a lengthy campaign to refocus U.S. policy on the Monroe Doctrine. In a 2018 speech to the U.N. General Assembly, Trump publicly referred to the Monroe Doctrine as the “formal policy” of the United States, linking it to his broader America First platform. His 2017 National Security Strategy, early in his first term, had already emphasised U.S. “preeminence” in the Western Hemisphere, though not with the new corollary’s sweeping language about keeping other outside powers out.
Concerns in the regions about a more hard-edged doctrine have been percolating for years. A 2019 Al Jazeera report documented how Trump officials relied on the Monroe Doctrine to argue for pressure on Venezuela and warn Latin American governments against deepening ties with China. Today, academics speak of the Trump National Security Strategy as the starkest expression yet of a “Monroe Doctrine 2.0” in response to a multipolar age that is seeing Beijing and Moscow emerge as key players throughout the region.
Whether the Trump National Security Strategy ultimately reworks deployments and budgets or stays partially aspirational will depend on Congress, the Pentagon, and regional partners, already sceptical that great-power competition is playing out in their backyard. But by marrying an assertive hemispheric doctrine to relentless critiques of Europe’s path, the Trump administration has put allies and adversaries alike on notice: The future direction of American strategy will be distinctly toward spheres of influence — with the Western Hemisphere at its epicentre.
