Trump’s national security strategy slams European allies

President Donald Trump’s administration set forth a new national security strategy that paints European allies as weak and aims to reassert America’s dominance in the Western Hemisphere.

The document released Friday by the White House is sure to roil long-standing U.S. allies in Europe for its scathing critiques of their migration and free speech policies, suggesting they face the “prospect of civilizational erasure” and raising doubts about their long-term reliability as American partners.

It reinforces, in sometimes chilly and bellicose terms, Trump’s “America First” philosophy, which favors nonintervention overseas, questions decades of strategic relationships and prioritizes U.S. interests above all.

The U.S. strategy “is motivated above all by what works for America — or, in two words, ‘America First,’” the document said.

This is the first national security strategy, a document the administration is required by law to release, since the Republican president’s return to office in January. It is a stark break from the course set by President Joe Biden’s Democratic administration, which sought to reinvigorate alliances after many were rattled in Trump’s first term and to check a more assertive Russia.

The United States is seeking to broker an end Russia’s nearly 4-year-old war in Ukraine , a goal that the national security strategy says is in America’s vital interests. But the document makes clear that the U.S. wants to improve its relationship with Russia after years of Moscow being treated as a global pariah and that ending the war is a core U.S. interest to “reestablish strategic stability with Russia.”

The document also is critical of America’s European allies. They have found themselves sometimes at odds this year with Trump’s shifting approaches to the Russia-Ukraine war and are facing domestic economic challenges as well an existential crisis, according to the U.S.

Economic stagnation in Europe “is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure,” the strategy document said.

The U.S. suggests that Europe is being enfeebled by its immigration policies, declining birthrates, “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition” and a “loss of national identities and self-confidence.”

“Should present trends continue, the continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years or less. As such, it is far from obvious whether certain European countries will have economies and militaries strong enough to remain reliable allies,” the document said. “Many of these nations are currently doubling down on their present path. We want Europe to remain European, to regain its civilizational self-confidence.”

Despite Trump’s “America First” maxim, his administration has carried out a series of military strikes on alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean while weighing possible military action in Venezuela to pressure President Nicolás Maduro.

The moves are part of what the national security strategy lays out as “a ‘Trump Corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine.” The 1823 Monroe Doctrine, formulated by President James Monroe, was originally aimed at opposing any European meddling in the Western Hemisphere and was used to justify U.S. military interventions in Latin America.

Trump’s strategy document says the U.S. is reimagining its military footprint in the region even after building up the largest military presence there in generations.

That means, for instance, “targeted deployments to secure the border and defeat cartels, including where necessary the use of lethal force to replace the failed law enforcement-only strategy of the last several decades,” it says.

唐纳德·特朗普总统的政府提出了一项新的国家安全战略，将欧洲盟友描绘成软弱无力的，旨在重申美国在西半球的主导地位。

白宫周五发布的这份文件肯定会激怒美国在欧洲的长期盟友，因为它对欧洲的移民和言论自由政策进行了严厉批评，暗示他们面临“文明消亡的前景”，并对他们作为美国伙伴的长期可靠性提出了质疑。

它以有时冷酷好战的措辞，强化了特朗普的“美国优先”理念，该理念主张不干涉海外事务，质疑数十年的战略关系，并将美国利益置于一切之上。

该文件称，美国的战略“首先是出于对美国有利的考虑——或者用两个词概括就是‘美国优先’”。

这是自这位共和党总统1月份重返任以来，政府发布的首份国家安全战略文件，根据法律规定，政府必须发布此类文件。这与拜登总统领导的民主党政府的路线截然不同。拜登政府在特朗普第一任期内，力图重振盟友关系，以遏制日益强势的俄罗斯。

美国正寻求斡旋结束俄罗斯在乌克兰持续近四年的战争，国家安全战略指出，这符合美国的根本利益。但该文件也明确表示，多年来莫斯科一直被视为国际弃儿，美国希望改善与俄罗斯的关系，结束战争是美国“重建与俄罗斯的战略稳定”的核心利益所在。

该文件还批评了美国的欧洲盟友。据美国方面称，这些盟友今年有时发现自己与特朗普在俄乌战争问题上不断变化的策略存在分歧，并且面临着国内经济挑战和生存危机。

该战略文件指出，欧洲的经济停滞“与文明消亡这一更加严峻的现实前景相比，显得微不足道”。

美国认为，欧洲的移民政策、出生率下降、“对言论自由的审查和对政治反对派的镇压”以及“民族认同感和自信心的丧失”正在削弱欧洲。

“如果目前的趋势持续下去，20年甚至更短的时间内，欧洲大陆将面目全非。因此，某些欧洲国家是否还拥有足够强大的经济和军事力量来继续作为可靠的盟友，这一点远未可知，”该文件指出。“许多这样的国家目前正在加倍地坚持走目前的道路。我们希望欧洲保持其欧洲特色，重拾其文明的自信。”

尽管特朗普奉行“美国优先”的原则，但他的政府还是对加勒比海和东太平洋的所谓毒品走私者进行了一系列军事打击，同时也在考虑对委内瑞拉采取可能的军事行动，以向总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗施压。

这些举措是国家安全战略中所谓的“门罗主义的‘特朗普推论’”的一部分。1823年由詹姆斯·门罗总统制定的门罗主义，最初旨在反对任何欧洲国家干涉西半球事务，并被用来为美国在拉丁美洲的军事干预辩护。

特朗普的战略文件称，即便美国已经在该地区建立了几代人以来规模最大的军事存在，但美国仍在重新构想其在该地区的军事布局。

例如，这意味着“有针对性地部署人员以确保边境安全和打击贩毒集团，包括在必要时使用致命武力，以取代过去几十年失败的仅依靠执法的策略”。