Explainer: Trump’s regional goals in ‘America First’ global strategy

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump’s administration released on Dec 5 a long-awaited

national security strategy

that sharply changes US priorities in line with his “America First” worldview.

Here are some of the key takeaways by continent.

Asia

After decades in which the United States has focused on the rise of China, the strategy describes the Asian power as a competitor but largely focuses on economics.

“We will rebalance America’s economic relationship with China, prioritising reciprocity and fairness to restore American economic independence,” it says.

On Taiwan, the self-governing democracy claimed by Beijing, the paper sticks to US calls to maintaining the status quo.

But it calls on Japan and South Korea, treaty-bound American allies, to contribute more to ensure the defence of Taiwan.

The paper voices enthusiasm for growing ties with India, which has been courted by successive American presidents but

has seen friction with Mr Trump

.

The strategy calls for the US to encourage New Delhi, historically non-aligned but which has fraught relations with China, “to contribute to Indo-Pacific security”.

Europe

The strategy reserves harsh language for Europe, backing far-right claims that the continent faces “civilisational erasure” due to migration.

“It is more than plausible that within a few decades at the latest, certain NATO members will become majority non-European,” it said, casting nationality in starkly racial terms.

The paper calls for “cultivating resistance” within Europe, in extraordinary language in addressing key allies.

The administration also denounces European “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition”, an allusion to efforts to constrain far-right voices, including those who have railed against migrants.

The paper also vows that there would be no expansion of NATO, the transatlantic alliance in which the US is the key power, again dashing Ukraine’s hopes as it endures a Russian invasion.

Latin America

The strategy describes Mr Trump as reviving the Monroe Doctrine, the 1823 declaration by the US that Latin America is off-limits to foreign powers.

In what it calls the

“Trump Corollary” to the doctrine

, it says the US would seek access to resources and strategic locations in Latin America and ensure that governments are “reasonably stable and well-governed enough to prevent and discourage mass migration to the United States”.

Alluding to China, the strategy says the US “will deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets”.

Middle East and Africa

The Middle East has long dominated US foreign policy, but the paper – much like those in previous administrations – calls for less emphasis.

It says that growing energy independence means that the US will not be as dependent on Gulf oil, and points to the weakening of Iran in US and Israeli attacks.

The strategy says relatively little about Israel, long a top priority for the US, only saying that it should be “secure”.

It says even less about Africa, other than calling for a transition away from aid and instead focusing on securing critical resources. AFP