The US will offer more limited support to allies, according to the Pentagon's new National Defense Strategy.
In a significant shift to its security priorities, the US Department of Defense now considers security of the US homeland and Western Hemisphere - not China - as its primary concern.
Previous versions of the strategy - published every four years - named the threat posed by China as the top defense priority. Relations with China will now be approached through strength, not confrontation, the report states.
The defense strategy reinforces recent calls from President Donald Trump, including for greater burden-sharing from allies in countering threats posed by Russia and North Korea.
The new 34-page report follows last year's publication of the US National Security Strategy, which suggested Europe faced civilizational collapse and did not categorize Russia as a threat to the US. At the time, Moscow described the document as largely consistent with its vision.
By contrast, in 2018, the Pentagon labeled revisionist powers, such as China and Russia, as the central challenge to US security.
The new strategy urges American allies to take more responsibility, asserting that partners have been content to rely on Washington for their defense support, while clarifying that this shift does not indicate a move toward isolationism.
To the contrary, it means a focused and genuinely strategic approach to the threats our nation faces, the strategy notes.
Washington acknowledges long-neglected concrete interests of Americans, indicating that the US does not equate American interests with global threats, emphasizing that a threat thousands of miles away is not necessarily a direct threat to US citizens.
Instead, it specifies that allies, particularly in Europe, should lead against threats that pose less severity to the US but are more pronounced for them.
Russia is framed as a persistent but manageable threat to NATO's eastern members, particularly in light of its ongoing military actions in Ukraine.
In previous iterations, the strategy addressed the situation in Taiwan, which is claimed by China, but the most recent report omits it, underscoring that the US seeks to prevent any nation, including China, from dominating the US or its allies.
Recent arms sales to Taiwan have drawn sharp responses from China, illustrating the delicate geopolitical balance in the region.
The strategy elaborates a more limited role for US deterrence of North Korea, asserting that South Korea is now expected to take primary responsibility in that capacity.
The evolution in defense strategy also highlights how the Trump administration's policies will differ from the expansive strategies of previous administrations following the Cold War. It emphasizes a pragmatic, realist approach over what it terms utopian idealism.
Recent remarks by President Trump at the World Economic Forum reflect this new outlook, wherein he criticized NATO and questioned US contributions to the alliance.
As global leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, acknowledge a significant geopolitical shift with no return to the old world order, a call for collective action among middle powers emerges as crucial in the current international landscape.
