U.S. National Defense Strategy

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.

The Trump administration's new 34-page National Defense Strategy, released Jan. 23, 2026, shifts responsibility for regional security onto allies — for example directing the Pentagon to give South Korea a primary role deterring North Korea — and criticizes European and Asian partners for relying on U.S. defense "subsidies." It reorients U.S. focus to dominance in the Western Hemisphere by prioritizing guaranteed military and commercial access to Greenland and the Panama Canal, ties its Greenland language to Trump's Davos claim of a "framework" with NATO chief Mark Rutte (Danish officials say formal negotiations have not begun), and says the U.S. will engage neighbors in "good faith" while taking "focused, decisive action" if partners do not "do their part."