President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago club, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla., as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listens. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago club, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla., as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listens. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago club, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla., as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listens. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago club, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla., as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listens. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks at Mar-a-Lago, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥 The Pentagon released a priority-shifting 好色tv Defense Strategy late Friday that chastised U.S. allies to take control of their own security and reasserted the Trump administration鈥檚 focus on dominance in the Western Hemisphere above a longtime goal of countering China.
The 34-page document, the first since 2022, was highly political for a military blueprint, criticizing partners from Europe to Asia for relying on previous U.S. administrations to subsidize their defense. It called for 鈥渁 sharp shift 鈥 in approach, focus, and tone.鈥 That translated to a blunt assessment that allies would take on more of the burden countering nations from Russia to North Korea.
鈥淔or too long, the U.S. Government neglected 鈥 even rejected 鈥 putting Americans and their concrete interests first,鈥 read the opening sentence.
It capped off a between President Donald Trump鈥檚 administration and traditional allies like Europe, with Trump threatening to impose tariffs on some European partners to press a bid to acquire Greenland before announcing a deal that lowered the temperature.
As allies confront what some see as a hostile attitude from the U.S., they will almost certainly be unhappy to see that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth鈥檚 department will provide 鈥渃redible options to guarantee U.S. military and commercial access to key terrain,鈥 especially Greenland and the Panama Canal.
Following a tiff this week at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, with , the strategy at once urges cooperation with Canada and other neighbors while still issuing a stark warning.
鈥淲e will engage in good faith with our neighbors, from Canada to our partners in Central and South America, but we will ensure that they respect and do their part to defend our shared interests,鈥 the document says. 鈥淎nd where they do not, we will stand ready to take focused, decisive action that concretely advances U.S. interests.鈥
Much like the White House鈥檚 , the defense blueprint reinforces Trump鈥檚 鈥淎merica First鈥 philosophy, which favors nonintervention overseas, questions decades of strategic relationships and prioritizes U.S. interests. The 好色tv Defense Strategy last was published in 2022 under then-President Joe Biden and focused on China as America鈥檚 鈥減acing challenge.鈥
Western Hemisphere
The strategy simultaneously courts help from partners in America鈥檚 backyard, while warning them that the U.S. will 鈥渁ctively and fearlessly defend America鈥檚 interests throughout the Western Hemisphere.鈥
It specifically points to access to the Panama Canal and Greenland. It comes just days after Trump said he reached a 鈥渇ramework of a future deal鈥 on Arctic security with NATO leader Mark Rutte that would offer the U.S. 鈥渢otal access鈥 to Greenland, a territory of NATO ally Denmark.
Danish officials, who spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations, say formal negotiations have yet to begin.
Trump previously suggested that the U.S. should potentially consider and . Asked this week if the U.S. reclaiming the canal was still on the table, Trump demurred.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to tell you that,鈥 the president responded. 鈥淪ort of, I must say, sort of. That鈥檚 sort of on the table.鈥
The Pentagon also touted the operation that ousted earlier this month, saying 鈥渁ll narco-terrorists should take note.鈥
China and the greater Asia-Pacific region
The new policy document views China 鈥 which the Biden administration saw as a top adversary 鈥 as a settled force in the Indo-Pacific region that only needs to be deterred from dominating the U.S. or its allies.
The goal 鈥渋s not to dominate China; nor is it to strangle or humiliate them,鈥 the document says. It later adds, 鈥淭his does not require regime change or some other existential struggle.鈥
鈥淧resident Trump seeks a stable peace, fair trade, and respectful relations with China,鈥 it says, which follows efforts to climb down from a trade war sparked by the administration鈥檚 sky-high tariffs. It says it will 鈥渙pen a wider range of military-to-military communications鈥 with China鈥檚 army.
The strategy, meanwhile, makes no mention of or guarantee to Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own and says it will take by force if necessary. The U.S. is obligated by its own laws to give military support to Taiwan.
By contrast, the Biden administration鈥檚 2022 strategy said the U.S. would 鈥渟upport Taiwan鈥檚 asymmetric self-defense.鈥
In another example of offloading regional security to allies, the document says, 鈥淪outh Korea is capable of taking primary responsibility for deterring North Korea with critical but more limited U.S. support.鈥
Europe
While saying that 鈥淩ussia will remain a persistent but manageable threat to NATO鈥檚 eastern members for the foreseeable future,鈥 the defense strategy asserts that NATO allies are much more powerful and so are 鈥渟trongly positioned to take primary responsibility for Europe鈥檚 conventional defense.鈥
It says the Pentagon will play a key role in NATO 鈥渆ven as we calibrate U.S. force posture and activities in the European theater鈥 to focus on priorities closer to home.
The U.S. that it will reduce its on NATO鈥檚 borders with Ukraine, with allies that the Trump administration might drastically cut their numbers and leave a security vacuum as European countries confront an increasingly aggressive Russia.