THE US is set to slash support for its allies including the UK as part of a new “America first” plan which urges Europe and Asia to step up.
The 34-page National Defence Strategy document slams American partners across the globe for overreliance on Washington for defence across the last few decades.
Parts of the plan echo the US president’s so-called Donroe DoctrineCredit: Reuters
The plan cuts support for allies including Sir Keir Starmer and the UKCredit: Reuters
The plan calls for Western allies to take on a “sharp shift in approach, focus, and tone” in response to mounting threats across the globe from Russia and North Korea.
In a stark assessment, the document’s first sentence reads: “For too long, the US government neglected – even rejected – putting Americans and their concrete interests first.”
But the new blueprint also takes China down a notch in terms of national security priorities from Washington’s perspective.
The policy booklet sees China as a settled force in the Indo-Pacific region that only needs to be deterred from dominating the US and its allies.
Spelling out Washington’s aims for handling Beijing, the plan says the goal “is not to dominate China, nor is it to strangle or humiliate them”.
It also says: “This does not require regime change or some other existential struggle.”
The document reinforces Donald Trump’s foreign policy focus on the Western Hemisphere as opposed to the entire world.
Echoing what has been dubbed the Donroe Doctrine, the strategy plan calls for less emphasis on policing Asia and more on South America.
The plan also states that the Department of War will give “credible options to guarantee US military and commercial access to key terrain” including Greenland and the Panama Canal.
It also urges cooperation with partners such as Canada – but warns that they have to “do their part to defend our shared interests”.
It comes after a series of sour exchanges between Trump and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney amid the World Economic Forum in Davos this week.
The Canadian PM took offence to Trump’s claim that “Canada lives because of the United States”.
The new plan states: “We will engage in good faith with our neighbours, 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.
“And where they do not, we will stand ready to take focused, decisive action that concretely advances US interests.”
The new doctrine sets out an “America First” philosophy, which favours the White House’s National Security Strategy of non-intervention overseas.
It also re-examines long-lasting strategic alliances in order to prioritise US interests.
The US National Defence Strategy was last published in 2022 under Joe Biden’s administration.
It focused on China as America’s “pacing challenge”.
It comes after Trump vowed he would do “exactly what we want” in Greenland following his Nato deal which he says will him “total access” to the mineral-rich territory.
The US president claimed the Nato deal was “much more generous to the United States, so much more generous”.
The plan does not see China as a main threatCredit: Alamy
The Pentagon’s new 34-page plan sets out a new vision for American foreign policyCredit: Getty
He claimed to have secured total and permanent US access to Greenland after talks with Nato chief Mark Rutte, who said allies would have to step up efforts to deter threats like Russia and China.
The US military is already permitted wide access to Greenland under treaties – but Washington has scaled back its presence there since the Cold War to a single small base.
Rutte announced he was working with Copenhagen to boost defences and deterrence.
Trump revealed he had a “very productive” meeting with Rutte on Thursday in which the “framework” of a deal over Greenland was reportedly reached.
The US has reportedly agreed to further talks between Denmark and Greenland on updating a 1951 agreement that covers US military access and presence on the Arctic island, sources claimed.
The blueprint discussed also outlaws Chinese and Russian investments in Greenland, the Daily Mail reported.
Rutte has revealed it was now up to the defence pact’s senior commanders to work through the details of extra security requirements.
He said: “I have no doubt we can do this quite fast. Certainly, I would hope for 2026, I hope even early in 2026.”
Speaking in Davos on Wednesday, President Trump questioned whether the 32-member military alliance would really come to America’s aid, saying: “I know them all very well.
“I’m not sure that they’d be there. I know we’d be there for them. I don’t know that they would be there for us.”
But his claim ignored the grim reality of Nato’s sacrifices in Afghanistan after the 9/11 terror attacks on New York’s World Trade Centre.
Hundreds of allied troops were killed fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with US forces.
Britain alone lost 457 troops, with a further 2,000 military and civilian personnel wounded.
On Friday, as “among the greatest of all warriors”.
Trump says he has reached the framework of a Greenland deal which could see him have ‘total access’Credit: PA
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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