Trump’s New National Security Strategy Outlines Bold Changes
President Trump released his administration’s official national security strategy last week with long overdue changes in direction and focus.
National Security Strategy of the United States title page, November 2025, released December 4, 2025
President Trump released his administration’s official 2025 National Security Strategy report to Congress on December 4, 2025. The President is required by statute to submit a comprehensive National Security Strategy (NSS) report to Congress annually, although, in practice, NSS reports have been issued only once during each four-year presidential administration since 2002. The most recent previous NSS report was issued by the Biden administration on October 12, 2022.
The new Trump NSS report takes a significant change in direction over past NSS reports. The 33-page report is organized in four sections: (1) An introduction on how American NSS went astray after the Cold War and the need for corrective actions; (2) the desired goals and core national interests of the NSS; (3) America’s assets and geopolitical advantages available to achieve the goals of the NSS; and (4) the overall principles and priorities of the NSS with associated descriptions of the NSS for each of five geographic regions – the Western Hemisphere, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.
The introduction of the report provides a critique of American NSS since the end of the Cold War as the basis for the new Trump NSS. An excerpt from the introduction on page 1:
American strategies since the end of the Cold War have fallen short—they have been laundry lists of wishes or desired end states; have not clearly defined what we want but instead stated vague platitudes; and have often misjudged what we should want.
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.
Our elites badly miscalculated America’s willingness to shoulder forever global burdens to which the American people saw no connection to the national interest. They overestimated America’s ability to fund, simultaneously, a massive welfare regulatory-administrative state alongside a massive military, diplomatic, intelligence, and foreign aid complex.
The report proposes a wide-ranging course correction in America’s NSS. It describes the following desired goals with the new Trump NSS on page 1:
The survival and safety of the United States as an independent, sovereign republic whose government secures the God-given natural rights of its citizens and prioritizes their well-being and interests.
Protect the United States, its people, its territory, its economy, and its way of life from military attack and hostile foreign influence, whether espionage, predatory trade practices, drug and human trafficking, destructive propaganda and influence operations, or cultural subversion.
Full control over our borders, our immigration system, and our transportation networks through which people come into our country—legally and illegally.
A resilient national infrastructure that can withstand natural disasters, resist and thwart foreign threats, and prevent or mitigate any events that might harm the American people or disrupt the American economy.
Recruit, train, equip, and field the world’s most powerful, lethal, and technologically advanced military to protect our interests, deter wars, and—if necessary—win them quickly and decisively.
The world’s most robust, credible, and modern nuclear deterrent, plus next-generation missile defenses—including a Golden Dome for the American homeland—to protect the American people, American assets overseas, and American allies.
The world’s strongest, most dynamic, most innovative, and most advanced economy, which delivers widespread and broad-based prosperity and creates upward mobility.
The world’s most robust industrial base.
The world’s most robust, productive, and innovative energy sector.
Protect our intellectual property from foreign theft.
Maintain America’s unrivaled “soft power” through which we exercise positive influence throughout the world that furthers our interests.
The restoration and reinvigoration of American spiritual and cultural health.
The report lists the characteristics and strengths specific to the United States that will help achieve the goals of the new Trump NSS. These include the American economy as the largest and most innovative in the world, the United States as the center of the world’s financial system and capital markets, the US Dollar as the world’s reserve currency, the American military as the largest and most powerful in the world, a large network of treaty alliances and partners in all strategically important regions of the world., desirable geography with abundant natural resources, and unmatched “soft power” and cultural influence.
The main strategy principles of Trump’s NSS are outlined pages 6-8 as follows:
Focused Definition of the National Interest: Since at least the end of the Cold War, administrations have often published National Security Strategies that seek to expand the definition of America’s “national interest” such that almost no issue or endeavor is considered outside its scope. But to focus on everything is to focus on nothing. America’s core national security interests shall be our focus.
Peace Through Strength: Strength is the best deterrent [to war]. Therefore, the United States must maintain the strongest economy, develop the most advanced technologies, bolster our society’s cultural health, and field the world’s most capable military.
Predisposition to Non-Interventionism: In the Declaration of Independence, America’s founders laid down a clear preference for non-interventionism in the affairs of other nations and made clear the basis: just as all human beings possess God-given equal natural rights, all nations are entitled by “the laws of nature and nature’s God” to a “separate and equal station” with respect to one another. For a country whose interests are as numerous and diverse as ours, rigid adherence to non-interventionism is not possible, but this predisposition should set a high bar for what constitutes a justified intervention.
Flexible Realism: U.S. policy will be realistic about what is possible and desirable to seek in its dealings with other nations. We seek good relations and peaceful commercial relations with the nations of the world without imposing on them democratic or other social change that differs widely from their traditions and histories. We recognize and affirm that there is nothing inconsistent or hypocritical in acting according to such a realistic assessment or in maintaining good relations with countries whose governing systems and societies differ from ours even as we push like-minded friends to uphold our shared norms.
Primacy of Nations: The world’s fundamental political unit is and will remain the nation-state. It is natural and just that all nations put their interests first and guard their sovereignty. The world works best when nations prioritize their interests. The United States will put our own interests first and, in our relations with other nations, encourage them to prioritize their own interests as well. We stand for the sovereign rights of nations.
Sovereignty and Respect: The United States will unapologetically protect our own sovereignty. This includes preventing its erosion by transnational and international organizations, attempts by foreign powers or entities to censor our discourse or curtail our citizens’ free speech rights, lobbying and influence operations that seek to steer our policies or involve us in foreign conflicts, and the manipulation of our immigration system to build up foreign interests within our country.
Balance of Power: The United States cannot allow any nation to become so dominant that it could threaten our interests. We will work with allies and partners to maintain global and regional balances of power to prevent the emergence of dominant adversaries. As the United States rejects the ill-fated concept of global domination for itself, we must prevent the global, and in some cases even regional, domination of others. This reality sometimes entails working with partners to thwart ambitions that threaten our joint interests.
The Trump NSS report makes the case that it is an unrealistic expectation for the United States to be involved in every regional problem around the world. Thus, it is necessary for the United States to prioritize and focus on regional issues that are of most importance to its core national interests. In “The Regions” section of the report, a specific strategy is described for each of five regions. Selected key points for each regional strategy on pages 15-29 are outlined below:
The Western Hemisphere: The Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine: After years of neglect, the United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere, and to protect our homeland and our access to key geographies throughout the region. We will deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere. This “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine is a common-sense and potent restoration of American power and priorities, consistent with American security interests.
Our goals for the Western Hemisphere can be summarized as “Enlist and Expand.” We will enlist established friends in the Hemisphere to control migration, stop drug flows, and strengthen stability and security on land and sea. We will expand by cultivating and strengthening new partners while bolstering our own nation’s appeal as the Hemisphere’s economic and security partner of choice.
Asia: Win the Economic Future, Prevent Military Confrontation: Going forward, we will rebalance America’s economic relationship with China, prioritizing reciprocity and fairness to restore American economic independence.
Importantly, this must be accompanied by a robust and ongoing focus on deterrence to prevent war in the Indo-Pacific.
In addition to maintaining economic preeminence and consolidating our alliance system into an economic group, the United States must execute robust diplomatic and private sector-led economic engagement in those countries where the majority of global economic growth is likely to occur over the coming decades.
In the long term, maintaining American economic and technological preeminence is the surest way to deter and prevent a large-scale military conflict.
Given that one-third of global shipping passes annually through the South China Sea, this has major implications for the American economy. Hence, deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority. We will also maintain our longstanding declaratory policy on Taiwan that the United States does not support any unilateral change to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.
Promoting European Greatness: Our goal should be to help Europe correct its current [negative] trajectory.
Over the long term, … certain NATO members will become majority non-European. As such, it is an open question whether they will view their place in the world, or their alliance with the United States, in the same way as those who signed the NATO charter. Our broad policy for Europe should prioritize:
Reestablishing conditions of stability within Europe and strategic stability with Russia;
Enabling Europe to stand on its own feet and operate as a group of aligned sovereign nations, including by taking primary responsibility for its own defense … ;
Cultivating resistance to Europe’s current trajectory within European nations;
Opening European markets to U.S. goods and services … ;
Ending the perception, and preventing the reality, of NATO as a perpetually expanding alliance….
The Middle East: Shift Burdens, Build Peace: We [the United States] have a clear interest in expanding the Abraham Accords to more nations in the region and to other countries in the Muslim world.
… the days [of] Middle East dominated American foreign policy … are thankfully over – not because the Middle East no longer matters, but because it is no longer the constant irritant, and potential source of imminent catastrophe, that it once was. It is rather emerging as a place of partnership, friendship, and investment – a trend that should be welcomed and encouraged.
Africa:The United States should transition from an aid-focused relationship with Africa to a trade and investment-focused relationship, favoring partnerships with capable, reliable states committed to opening their markets to U.S. goods and services. An immediate area for U.S. investment in Africa, with prospects for a good return on investment, include the energy sector and critical mineral development. United States has an interest in expanding the Abraham Accords to more nations in the region and to other countries in the Muslim world. However, the days of the Middle East dominating American foreign policy are thankfully over, not because the Middle East no longer matters, but because it is no longer the constant irritant, and potential source of imminent catastrophe, that it once was. It is rather emerging as a place of partnership, friendship, and investment – a trend that should be welcomed and encouraged.
Africa: The United States should transition from an aid-focused relationship with Africa to a trade and investment-focused relationship, favoring partnerships with capable, reliable states committed to opening their markets to U.S. goods and services. An immediate area for U.S. investment in Africa, with prospects for a good return on investment, include the energy sector and critical mineral development.
In summary, the new Trump NSS presents a dramatic shift in direction in U.S. foreign policy. It presents a strategy of less involvement in Europe and the Middle East, and greater focus on the Western Hemisphere with a reinvigoration of the Monroe Doctrine. The NSS offers surprisingly little discussion on Russia and Iran. The absence of language that either country is a threat may indicate a preference for better relations for both. The report also seems to signal an eventual disengagement from NATO.
As for China, the NSS considers China a global competitor, but hopes to counter China primarily on economic terms with stronger American economic fundamentals and long-term economic growth, a better American trade position with China, and a continuation of American military strength in coordination with its Asian allies to avoid any potential military confrontation with China.