New Trump National Defense Strategy Shifts Burden to Allies and Puts Western Hemisphere Access, Including Greenland and Panama Canal, at Center Stage
The Trump administration’s 2026 National Defense Strategy shifts U.S. focus toward the Western Hemisphere and emphasizes burden‑sharing, telling allies to take primary responsibility for their own defense—including European NATO members the document calls “substantially more powerful than Russia,” who it expects to spend 5% of GDP (3.5% on hard capabilities) and lead conventional defense and support to Ukraine. It also vows to guarantee U.S. military and commercial access to key terrain—explicitly naming the Panama Canal, the Gulf of America, and Greenland—and promises “credible military options” against narco‑terrorists, marking a re‑prioritization from the Biden-era emphasis on China as the pacing challenge.
📌 Key Facts
- ABC (via AP excerpts reproduced by ABC) published side‑by‑side excerpts of the 2022 Biden National Defense Strategy and the 2026 Trump National Defense Strategy, making explicit contrasts in the Pentagon’s own language on the Western Hemisphere, NATO/Europe, and China/Taiwan.
- The 2026 Trump strategy reprioritizes U.S. focus toward the Western Hemisphere and explicitly shifts more burden to U.S. allies for regional and conventional defense responsibilities.
- The 2026 text states the U.S. will "guarantee U.S. military and commercial access to key terrain, especially the Panama Canal, Gulf of America, and Greenland," and promises "credible military options" against so‑called "narco‑terrorists."
- On Europe, the 2026 strategy asserts European NATO allies are "substantially more powerful than Russia," expects them (under Trump) to spend 5% of GDP on defense with 3.5% on "hard" capabilities, and directs they should take "primary responsibility" for Europe’s conventional defense, including leading support to Ukraine.
- By contrast, the 2022 Biden strategy named the People’s Republic of China as the "pacing challenge," a framing the AP/ABC reporting highlighted to show how the new document re‑prioritizes toward the Western Hemisphere and burden‑shifting to allies, even though the Trump-era China section is not fully quoted in the reporting.
📰 Source Timeline (2)
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- AP piece reproduces side‑by‑side excerpts from the 2022 Biden National Defense Strategy and the 2026 Trump strategy on the Western Hemisphere, NATO/Europe, and China/Taiwan, making the contrast explicit in the Pentagon’s own language.
- The 2026 strategy text spells out that the U.S. will 'guarantee U.S. military and commercial access to key terrain, especially the Panama Canal, Gulf of America, and Greenland,' and promises 'credible military options' against so‑called narco‑terrorists.
- On Europe, the 2026 strategy declares that European NATO allies are 'substantially more powerful than Russia,' asserts they are now committed (under Trump) to spend 5% of GDP on defense with 3.5% on 'hard' capabilities, and states they should take 'primary responsibility' for Europe’s conventional defense, including leading support to Ukraine.
- On China, the AP article (in the portion beginning to quote the 2022 text) underscores that the prior strategy named the PRC as the 'pacing challenge,' setting up a clear contrast with the new document’s re‑prioritization toward the Western Hemisphere and burden‑shifting to allies, even though the Trump‑era China section is not fully quoted here.