Synonymous with Trumpian politics is the president’s protectionist ‘America First’ policy.
Tough border controls, tariffs on imports and a strong military are all well known hallmarks of the Maga regime.
However, a new document has shed light on what America First could mean for Europe in the coming years.
Trump has issued his National Security Strategy – a document typically released at least once every presidential term – and it is unsurprisingly a very different read from the one directed by his predecessor Joe Biden in 2022.
But it’s also a departure from Trump’s first strategy paper in 2017, which distinguished the world between free and ‘repressive regimes’.
This time the emphasis is far more on asserting America’s dominance across several fields and the prioritisation of trade links over democratic values.
Among its eye-catching claims is that the continent is heading for ‘civilisational erasure’ and could look ‘unrecognisable in 20 years or less’.
What is Donald Trump’s America First agenda?
America First has been one of the defining principles of the Trump administration, both the first and latest iteration.
It sets out a protectionist programme designed first and foremost to serve the interests of the United States above all else.
Although originally coined during the tenure of president Woodrow Wilson to describe America’s originally non-interventionist policy in the First World War, the term was given fresh meaning by the Maga movement.
More recently the phrase was the subject of disputes within pro-Trump circles, particularly in relation to the president’s intervention in foreign conflicts, including the US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites this year.
How Trump’s America First agenda could affect Europe?
In his latest document, Trump gives a telling glimpse both into his outlook for Europe and the role he sees America playing (or not) in global affairs.
He explains that the US wants the ‘western hemisphere’ to ‘be reasonably stable and well-governed enough to prevent and discourage mass migration to the United States’.
In America’s interest is to ‘restore Europe’s civilisational self-confidence and Western identity’, it continues.
It says the latter is evident from the European response to the Ukraine-Russia war.
Europe should also ‘abandon its failed focus on regulatory suffocation’, it adds.
But the paper also envisages a world in which the US drives forward global change: militarily, technologically and commercially through trade.
The document goes on to explain that America can and will achieve its aims through a combination of maintaining its ‘unrivalled’ soft power, ‘willpower and patriotism of the American people’ and military might.
On foreign policy, it offers a prospectus of ‘peace through strength’, while protecting sovereign nations over ‘most intrusive transnational organisations’ – what could be interpreted as a reference to the EU, Nato and the ICJ.
The US, it sets out, will also insist on ‘fair’ trade policies from other nations and will not tolerate ‘trade imbalances, predatory economic practices, and other impositions on our nation’s historic goodwill that disadvantage our interests’.
What does Trump’s First agenda mean for US support for Ukraine?
Through his America First programme, Trump has indicated willingness to intervene in foreign conflicts provided it serves his nation’s interests.
This is backed up by the national security paper, which says: ‘American foreign policy elites convinced themselves that permanent American domination of the entire world was in the best interests of our country. Yet the affairs of other countries are our concern only if their activities directly threaten our interest.’
In Ukraine, this has meant in practice applying pressure on both Putin and Zelensky to make concessions and reach a peace agreement, while brokering a mineral deal with the latter as financial compensation for military funding.
But the paper does acknowledge that the war will require ‘significant US diplomatic engagement’ to prevent it escalating into ‘conflict between Russia and European states’.
However it notably declines to elaborate on whether the US would be directly involved should such a global conflict arise.
Trump’s Europe agenda: The key points
- Helping Europe to ‘restore its civilisational self-confidence’
- Insistence on ‘fair’ policies from trading partners
- Keeping the West ‘well-governed enough’ to prevent mass migration to the US
- Peace through strength
- Support for sovereign nations over ‘most intrusive international organisations’
- Intervention in foreign affairs only if in US interest
- Diplomatic engagement on Ukraine to prevent further escalation
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