Feed aggregator

By Jomo Kwame Sundaram and Kuhaneetha Bai Kalaicelvan
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Dec 16 2025 (IPS)

The new US National Security Strategy (NSS) repositions the superpower’s role in the world. Hence, foreign policy will be mainly driven by considerations of ‘making America great again’ (MAGA).

Jomo Kwame Sundaram

Changing course
The new NSS no longer presumes US world leadership and alliances based on values. It breaks with earlier post-Cold War foreign policy, upsetting those committed to its sovereigntist unipolar world.

Quietly released on December 4, it is certainly not an easily forgettable update of long-established positions, cloaked in obscure bureaucratic and diplomatic parlance.

Mainly drafted under the leadership of ‘neo-con’ Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio, it is already seen as the most significant document of Trump 2.0.

It asserts, “The days of the United States propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over.” Instead, foreign policy should now prioritise advancing US interests.

New priorities
The NSS implies the US will no longer be the world’s policeman. Instead, it will exercise power selectively, prioritising transactional rather than strategic considerations.

It emphasises economic strength as key to national security, rebuilding industrial capacity, securing supply chains and ensuring the US never relies on others for critical materials.

K Kuhaneetha Bai

Even if the Supreme Court overrules the President’s tariffs, the US has already secured many concessions from governments fearful of their likely adverse impacts.

The NSS is ostensibly based on MAGA considerations involving immigration control, hemispheric dominance, and cultural ethno-chauvinism.

Mainstream commentators complain it lacks the supposedly enlightened values underlying foreign policy in the US-dominated world order after the Second World War.

They complain the new NSS is narrow in focus, redefining interests, and sharing power. Its stance and tone are said to be more 19th-century than 21st-century.

Besides pragmatic imperatives, mixed messages may be due to unsatisfactory compromises among rival factions in Trump’s administration.

MAGA foreign policy
Long-term observers see the NSS as unprecedented and blatantly ideological.

White supremacist ideology influences not only national cultural politics but also foreign policy. The NSS unapologetically promotes Judaeo-Christian chauvinism despite the constitutional separation of church from state.

MAGA’s ‘America First’ priority is evident throughout. Border security is crucial as immigration is deemed the primary national security concern.

For Samuel Huntington, immigration threatens the US by making it less WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant).

The NSS blames social and economic breakdown on immigration. Inflows into the Western Hemisphere, not just the US, must be urgently stopped by all available means.

Ironically, the US has long been a nation of immigrants, with relatively more immigrants than any European country. Its non-white numbers are almost equal to whites.

Trump’s neocolonial interpretation of the 1823 Monroe Doctrine emphasises the Americas as the new foreign policy priority.

Foreign rivals must not be allowed to acquire strategic assets, ports, mines, or infrastructure in Latin America and the Caribbean, mainly to keep China out.

Trump’s NSS prioritises the Western Hemisphere, with Asia second. Africa receives three paragraphs, primarily for its minerals.

Europe is downgraded to third, due to its ostensible immigration-induced civilizational decline. Surprisingly, the NSS urges halting North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) expansion.

China near peer!
The NSS policy on China is widely viewed as unexpectedly restrained. China remains a priority, but is no longer its primary antagonist; it is now a peer competitor.

Now, the US must rebalance its economic relationship with China based on mutually beneficial reciprocity, fairness, and the resurgence of US manufacturing.

The US will continue to work with allies to limit China’s growth and technological progress. However, China is allowed to develop green technologies due to US disinterest.

Meanwhile, US hawks have ensured a military ‘overmatch’ for Taiwan. The NSS emphasises Taiwan’s centrality to Indo-Pacific security and world chip production.

The NSS warns China would gain access to the Second Island Chain if it captured Taiwan, reshaping regional power and threatening vital US trade routes.

With allied support, the US military will seek to contain China within the First Island Chain. However, Taiwan fears US support will wane after TSMC chip production moves to the US.

The NSS expects the ‘Quad’ of the US, Australia, Japan and India to enhance Indo-Pacific security. For Washington, only India can balance China in Asia, and is hence crucial to contain China in the long term.

Regional reordering
The NSS also downgrades the Middle East (ME). Conditions that once made the region important have changed.

The ME’s importance stemmed from its petroleum and Western guilt over Israel. Now, the US has become a significant oil and gas exporter.

Critically, the US strike on Iran in mid-2025 is believed to have set back Tehran’s nuclear programme.

The ME seems unlikely to continue to drive US strategic planning as it has over the last half-century. For the US, the region is now expected to be a major investor.

As US foreign policy is redefined, the world worries. The ME has been downgraded as Latin America has become the new frontline region.

Much has happened in less than a year of Trump 2.0, with little clear or consistent pattern of continuity or change from his first term. But policies have also been quickly reversed or revised.

While the NSS is undoubtedly important and indicative, it would be presumptuous to think it will actually determine policy over the next three years, or even in the very near future.

IPS UN Bureau

 

Follow @IPSNewsUNBureau
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');   Related Articles

• World Must Pay to Make America Great Again
• A New Non-Alignment for the Global South
• Trump Accord Sows Discord in US Empire
• Trump’s ‘Shock and Awe’ Tariffs
• America First Deepens World Stagnation
• New Geopolitics Worse for Global South
• IPEF: Much Ado about Nothing
• Weaponizing Free Trade Agreements
• ‘Populist’ Macroeconomic Policy

"Across the music industry, AI is accelerating existing problems like spam, fraud, and deceptive content"

"Today, sorrow has reached Slovakia as well," President Peter Pellegrini wrote on Facebook

Zwei Freunde aus Perth erleben ein seltenes Meeresspektakel vor der Südküste Westaustraliens: Die sogenannte «Erdbeben-Welle». Zehn Jahre später begeben sie sich nochmals auf die Suche und siehe da – sie stossen erneut auf das Naturspektakel.

A múlt héten Kassa megyében 12 óvodában és 10 alapiskolában szünetelt a tanítás az influenza miatt. Az akut légúti megbetegedésekben szenvedők száma 12,1 százalékkal emelkedett.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Miami, seeks "damages in an amount not less than $5,000,000,000" for each of two counts against the British broadcaster

In Tuesday's edition: ‘Van’ der Leyen, pesticides, Qatargate, Ukraine, Mercosur, Weber

Roman Josi führt Nashville Predators zum Sieg über die Saint Louis Blues. Er gewinnt als einziger Schweizer und gehört zu einem Kreis an nicht-nordamerikanischen NHL-Verteidigern.

The EHPM 50th Anniversary After-Movie captures the key moments, voices, and energy of the celebration held on 12 November at the European Parliament.

Továbbra is érvényben van a köd miatt kiadott figyelmeztetés az egész országban. Vezessenek óvatosan!

Neun Radprofis haben auf Mallorca ein Segelflugzeug in die Luft gezogen – nur mit Muskelkraft. Das Team von Red-Bull-BORA-hansgrohe erreichte bei diesem Weltrekordversuch eine Geschwindigkeit von 54 km/h.

Auf einer Autobahn in Oklahoma entgehen Polizisten knapp einem Unfall mit losen LKW-Reifen. Bei der anschliessenden Kontrolle stellt sich heraus: Der Fahrer ist illegal aus Kirgistan eingereist.

Wie bereits erwartet worden ist, sind die Neuzulassungszahlen für E-Autos in den USA im Oktober eingebrochen. Der Rückgang fiel jedoch weniger drastisch aus als befürchtet. Hauptgrund dafür ist einmal mehr US-E-Auto-Pionier Tesla.

Europe risks losing control of its its biopharmaceutical R&D and manufacturing. The biggest losers will be European patients

German firms are set to pay just €0.05 per kWh; Italian competitors want the same

Two rival projects have been competing for a market barely large enough for one winner

New group unites European producers of equipment at the heart of EU grid vulnerability

The project calls itself the 'first fully automated, industrial-scale foreign production line for drones for the Ukrainian Armed Forces'

Die Schweiz zieht die Schrauben an: Ab dem neuen Jahr ist Stalking eine eigene Straftat und kann mit Gefängnis geahndet werden. Was Betroffene tun können.

Kurz vor dem Attentat in Syndney waren die Täter auf den Philippinen. Vater und Sohn sollen sich dort auf ihren Terrorakt vorbereitet haben.