It is a practice for every President of the U.S. to bring out a National Security Strategy (NSS) and National Defence Strategy (NDS) almost a year into his term. President Trump brought out an NSS and an NDS in 2017, during his first term. In November 2025, he published the NSS for his second term. This paper aims at comparing the NSS of both these Presidential terms.
NSS 2017
The NSS 2017, a 68-page document, highlighted nine issues. Its expressed requirement was to keep America First in all its policies. The other issues it highlighted were the nuclear threat, terrorism and ways to counter it, immigration and how to counter illegal immigration, the drug menace and cartels indulging in drug and human trafficking and ways to counter them. It included the U.S.’ trade imbalance and measures to reduce it, the competition from China and Russia and ways to deal with them, the importance of data and information and the problem of cyber attacks and how to defend against them.
The NSS 2017 had four chapters under the headings of four pillars. These were to Protect American People, Promote American Prosperity, Preserve Peace through Strength and Advancing American Influence. Under each of the pillars, the current conditions were taken into account, and actions were prescribed to improve America’s position under each of them.
NSS 2025
This time, the NSS is conspicuous by its shorter length of 29 pages. The reason, it said, was that the previous NSS lacked focus. Praise for President Donald Trump and his efforts to bring peace runs across all sections of this NSS. His achievements are stated as countering illegal immigration, removing wokeness in the U.S. military and strengthening its combat capabilities, and attaining self-sufficiency in energy. It includes rebuilding relations with allies with increased investment commitments from them for common defence, neutralising Iran’s nuclear capabilities and support for terrorism, and finally, settling eight wars, including Operation Sindoor between India and Pakistan. It is to be noted that the Cambodia-Thailand conflict, which the NSS claims was resolved by Trump, erupted again on December 8, 2025. India has categorically denied the U.S. role in bringing Operation Sindoor to an end.
The NSS 2025 comprises four chapters. The first three focus on American strategy since the Cold War, the corrections that Trump has made to the shortcomings in that strategy, what America now wants and what the available means are to achieve it. Chapter 4 provides the strategy for America to get what it wants.
Chapter 2 is a descriptor of the wants of the U.S. for continued survival and safety as an independent, sovereign republic, to protect its country, people, territory, economy, and way of life. America wants to have full control over its borders, its immigration system and its transportation networks to control legal and illegal immigration. It also wants to have resilient national infrastructure and the world’s most powerful military. The U.S. wants a credible nuclear deterrent, a robust economy, an industrial base and an energy sector. Finally, it wants to be the most technologically advanced country and restore and reinvigorate America’s spiritual and cultural health.
This chapter also puts out the U.S.’s core interests. First, it is interested in a reasonably stable Western Hemisphere, and to achieve that, the U.S. wants to apply the Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine.[1]Second, the U.S. wants to halt and reverse the damage that other countries inflict on the American economy. Third, it wants to support America’s allies in preserving the freedom and security of Europe while restoring Europe’s civilisational self-confidence and Western identity. Fourth, the U.S. wants to prevent an adversarial power from dominating the Middle East and the repercussions thereof. Fifth, ensuring the U.S. is a standard-setter whose technology and standards—particularly in AI, biotech, and quantum computing—should drive the world forward.
Having set the tone for the U.S.’ core interests, Chapter 3 lists the nine means to attain it, from having a nimble political system to ending with the courage, willpower and patriotism of the American people.
Chapter 4 is where the NSS is spelt out, in three parts. The first lays out the principles of its defence. America First appears twice amongst the 10 principles. The others focus on how to uphold the primacy of U.S. interests. It justifies the U.S. interventions in other countries and regions and wants to set a high bar for the same. The second part lists U.S. priorities. While immigration and border security have been listed as priorities, Europe has been singled out for scathing remarks on reducing democratic values and abandoning European values. It clearly emphasises that the U.S. does not want to be the sole burden-bearer in the world, and presidential diplomacy is the primary means to achieve peace. Economic and energy security and dominance in these fields bring up the rear in the priorities list.
The crux of the NSS lies in the third and last part of this chapter, titled ‘Regions’. The first region is the Western Hemisphere. In NSS 2017, it appeared last. NSS 2025 states the Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, to “deny non-Western Hemisphere actors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities or to own and control strategic vital assets in the Western Hemisphere.” There is one difference: the original Monroe Doctrine and the Roosevelt Corollary were restricted to the American continent, whereas the Trump Corollary expands it to the entire Western Hemisphere.
The second factor is “Enlist and Expand”, meaning to enlist established friends in the Hemisphere to control migration, stop drug flows, and strengthen stability and security on land and sea. ‘Expand’ implies cultivating and strengthening new partners while bolstering the U.S. appeal as the hemisphere’s economic and security partner of choice. The U.S.’s military presence is to be thereby reorganised to concentrate on the Western Hemisphere with emphasis on countering immigration, the drug menace, human trafficking and access to strategic locations.
The second region that has been discussed in detail is Asia. China figures on top of the list in Asia with the view that the U.S. must rebalance its relations with it on the principles of reciprocity and fairness. Western countries including the U.S. and multilateral development banks which together hold $8.5 trillion in foreign assets are to be used to counter the global influence of China. Europe and other allies of the U.S. are asked to rebalance China’s economy by diverting China’s trade with ASEAN and African countries to the West. The U.S. would like to improve commercial and other relations with India. The Indo-Pacific and the Quad are given scarce mention, even while an increased contribution from allies and partners is expected. Taiwan’s importance has been tempered with the statement that the U.S. does not support unilateral change to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. To deter military threats, the U.S. wants its allies and partners to give it more access to their ports and other facilities. However, there is no talk of reciprocity.
Europe has been singled out for criticism by the U.S. The NSS speaks about the decline of Europe and expects a greater contribution from countries for their defence, with the caution that they may lose their European identity and ways soon. Germany’s chemical companies making large investments in China have been called out. The U.S. wants to prevent NATO from being a perpetually expanding alliance.
The fourth region is the Middle East, which the NSS treats with delicacy. It underplays the threats there and overemphasises development. The U.S. has an interest in expanding the Abraham Accords[2] to more countries.
The last mentioned in the NSS is Africa. NSS suggests a change in the U.S. approach to Africa from foreign aid to investment. The U.S. wants to prevent new conflicts and increase the number of settlements of conflicts. It mentions that the U.S. should not have long term commitments but should ensure supply chains of energy and critical minerals.
Analysis
The NSS 2025 is an indication of Trump’s single-handed domination of policy making in the U.S.. Trade was not so prominent in the NSS 2017, but this time, it reads more like a trade document than security strategy. Third, the U.S.’s global role is certainly shrinking. The Western Hemisphere is the U.S. area of concentration. This is evident when compared to NSS 2017.
Fourth, it is likely to be less invested not only in Europe but also in other parts of the world. The U.S.’s disenchantment with Europe is very clear; Trump places the onus of resolving the Russia-Ukraine conflict on European shoulders.
Fifth, this document does not endear the U.S. to its allies and partners. Its closest allies in Europe have been targeted by its wrath. The UK, an ally of long standing, hardly finds a mention. However, the economic and technological threat from China has been given due attention. Certainly, Taiwan needs to be careful, as the U.S. expects other countries to pitch in for its security. Recent statements by Japanese Prime Minister Ms Sanae Takaichi on Taiwan in November 2025 should be seen in this light. The South China Sea has been given some importance, while the Indo-Pacific and Quad seem to have been relegated to the back room. This NSS talks of building and retaining the U.S.’s military supremacy, but it comes as a distant second in priority to trade-related issues.
Finally, given the downward trend in U.S.-India relations, this NSS gives a positive spin to it.
Lt Gen S L Narasimhan is the Adjunct Distinguished Fellow for China and National Security Studies at Gateway House.
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References:
[1] The Monroe Doctrine, declared by President James Monroe in 1823, was a U.S. foreign policy declaring that the Americas were closed to future European colonisation and interference. The Roosevelt Corollary (1904)
[2] Abraham Accords was signed initially by Bahrain, Israel, UAE and USA in 2020. It was the basis for normalisation of agreements between Israel and UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. It was mediated by the USA.