NEW DELHI: Amid heightened tensions between the United States and the European Union over Greenland, the Trump administration on Saturday released its new National Defense Strategy (NDS), which elevates the Indo-Pacific and the defence of the US “homeland” above Europe and the Middle East, while calling for countering China “through strength, not confrontation.”
Signed by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, the document sets out the Pentagon’s strategic priorities for the coming years, marking a return to a hierarchy-of-threats framework. It also signals a tougher line on allied burden-sharing and calls for large-scale industrial mobilisation to sustain long-term competition with peer adversaries.
The release comes as US President Donald Trump has escalated rhetoric and actions on multiple fronts, including ordering the US military to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro for trial in the United States, renewing claims that Washington needs control of Greenland and warning of potential US military strikes against Iran.
On Thursday, Trump said he had reached a framework deal through NATO granting the United States permanent and unrestricted access to Greenland, as the alliance’s chief said members must strengthen Arctic security commitments to counter growing threats from Russia and China.
The NDS places China at the core of US defence planning, describing Beijing as “the most powerful state relative to the United States since the 19th century”. It commits the Pentagon to building what it calls a “strong denial defense” along the First Island Chain—the arc of territory stretching from Japan through Taiwan and the Philippines—aimed at preventing China from projecting military dominance into the wider Pacific.
While the document does not explicitly mention the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD), it directly links US national security and economic priorities to the Indo-Pacific, noting that the region “will soon account for more than half of the global economy.”
In contrast, the NDS characterises Russia as a secondary, though still serious, challenge. It states, “Russia will remain a persistent but manageable threat to NATO’s eastern members.”
The strategy also signals a relative downgrading of Europe in US military planning. It says that “although Europe remains important, it has a smaller and decreasing share of global economic power,” and calls on European NATO members to assume primary responsibility for conventional defence on the continent, with the United States providing “critical but more limited support.”
The NDS further reinforces Washington’s push for increased allied defence spending. It says that under President Trump, “a new approach is in effect,” citing the NATO Hague Summit, where a new benchmark of 3.5% of GDP for core military spending and an additional 1.5% for security-related spending—totalling 5% of GDP—was set.
“We will advocate that our allies and partners meet this standard around the world, not just in Europe,” the strategy adds.
