He desires, and you better agree

United States President Donald Trump is standing with a club and spade to build his private-public boulevard. He has decided that playing merely with the king of hearts would not land aces up his sleeve, which has two tattoos, “America First,” and “Make America Great Again.” While Trump jauntily works the path, the rest of the world, including powerful allies, is left to wonder what and when they will be told (or ordered) to work on the proposed building, or even plant trees to construct a “beautiful” MAGA drive.

After the trade deal between the US and European Union (EU), which many of the latter’s members showed disgust for, a 32-page American security document, “National Security Strategy (NSS) of the United States of America”, reflected the diplomatic design of Trump’s realpolitik architecture. Whatever the rest of the world may say about him, he cannot be called coy or innocuous. Much of the content of the security document derives from the US Vice-President JD Vance’s speech on February 14 at the Munich Security Conference. There, he talked about the erosion of democratic norms in Europe. He argued that the danger to that continent came from internal factors, and not the external ones like Russia or China.

The NSS adopts a paternalistic attitude towards the EU. “Our goal should be to help Europe correct its current trajectory. We will need a strong Europe to help us successfully compete, and to work in concert with us to prevent any adversary from dominating Europe,” it states. One of its pillars is to rediscover the more than 200-year-old foreign policy statement known as the Monroe Doctrine, with a “Trump Corollary,” that the ‘The Economist’ magazine termed the “Donroe doctrine.” The aim: politics and commerce on White House terms.

“After years of neglect, the United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American preeminence in the Western Hemisphere, and to protect our homeland and our access to key geographies throughout the region. We will deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our Hemisphere. This “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine is a common-sense and potent restoration of American power and priorities, consistent with American security interests,” explains the NSS. According to ‘The Economist,’ this perception is a “further reason for America's friends to plan for the worst.”

Like Vance’s speech, the NSS was met with strong protests from the European leaders. They accused the vice-president of interfering in internal matters, and supporting the populist-right parties. The NSS “provoked yet more outrage in Europe. European Council president Antonio Costa and Germany’s chancellor Friedrich Merz have both described parts of the document as ‘unacceptable,’ with much criticism geared towards the blatant political interference the strategy suggests the US plans to conduct in Europe,” observes the global think tank, European Council on Foreign Relations.

“The NSS has also delivered a harsh diagnosis about the continent’s economic decline, although these issues (for example, Europe’s lack of competitiveness, its declining share of global tech revenues, and dependence on China for green-tech supply chains) are also being acknowledged and documented by Europeans,” it adds. The doctrine of President James Monroe was foreign policy created in 1823 against European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere. It viewed any intervention by foreign powers in the political affairs of the Americas as a hostile act against the US.

Much of the NSS reads like a minder’s list of do’s-and-don’ts to the class, where White House clearly spells out, “We want to support our allies in preserving the freedom and security of Europe, while restoring Europe’s civilisational self-confidence and Western identity….” It adds, “We will oppose elite-driven, anti-democratic restrictions on core liberties in Europe, the Anglosphere, and the rest of the democratic world, especially among our allies.” Of course, “mass” migration is the greatest threat to the West, and the NSS pledges to secure the US borders, as well as support Europe’s populist-right parties in their similar pursuits.

Europe comes for criticism over climate change concerns, and policies aimed at developing alternative energies. In no uncertain terms had Trump decried these issues in his controversial speech at the United Nations General Assembly in end-September. “This ‘climate change,’ it is the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world, in my opinion," he said. He maintained that such statements about climate change were made by “stupid people that have cost their countries fortunes, and given those same countries no chance for success.” 

European nations, which have recently experienced floods, hurricanes, and heat waves that have forced them to develop ways to battle climate change, found themselves snubbed by the NSS. The US document declares that Washington rejects “the disastrous ‘climate change’ and ‘Net Zero’ ideologies that have so greatly harmed Europe, threaten the United States, and subsidise our adversaries.” It did not mince words in its critique of Europe. For, according to the NSS, the “larger issues facing Europe include activities of the European Union and other transnational bodies that undermine political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-confidence.”

The NSS states that Europe’s lack of self-confidence is evident in its relationship with Russia, where due to the war in Ukraine, its relations are deeply attenuated, and many Europeans regard Russia as an existential threat. Thus, “Managing European relations with Russia will require significant US diplomatic engagement, both to reestablish conditions of strategic stability across the Eurasian landmass, and to mitigate the risk of conflict between Russia and European states.” It is ironic that Trump stands accused of similar charges: Press censorship, undermining political liberty, and playing a love-hate game with Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Trump’s “America First” diplomacy seeks to “rebalance global trade relationships,” as the NSS claims. “We have made clear to our allies that America’s current account deficit is unsustainable. We must encourage Europe, Japan, Korea, Australia, Canada, Mexico, and other prominent nations in adopting trade policies that help rebalance China’s economy toward household consumption, because Southeast Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East cannot alone absorb China’s enormous excess capacity.” Hence, America must sell more to the rest of the world, which needs to buy less from China, and other competitors. In effect, Monroe is now Donroe.