LILLEY: Trump’s blunt National Security Strategy shouldn’t shock – it’s America First

Nothing in Donald Trump’s new National Security Strategy should be shocking to anyone who has paid attention to the American President.

The document, released a week ago, is sending fear and shockwaves through foreign capitals and think tanks because it forcefully projects an America First policy.

This is what Trump has been talking about since he seriously entered American politics 10 years ago – no one should be shocked.

“In everything we do, we are putting America first,” Trump says in the introduction.

The document denounces globalism, climate change and Net Zero called disastrous ideologies, there is a stated desire to use peace through strength to avoid “forever wars” and it declares the age of mass migration over. In sum, this is a rejection of what the world liberal elites have been trying to create and an embrace of everything Donald Trump has been preaching.

Three core questions define Trump’s foreign-policy priorities

The document lays out three questions that it says are key to having a focused strategy.

1) What should the United States want?

2) What are our available means to get it? and

3) How can we connect ends and means into a viable National Security Strategy?

It asks these questions to define, in an America First expression, what is best for the U.S. and how should the country use its foreign policy to further national goals.

“The purpose of foreign policy is the protection of core national interests; that is the sole focus of this strategy,” the document states.

It then goes on to discuss plans to reindustrialize America, to ensure American dominance in the energy and financial sectors and in military capabilities. Dominance is key to this strategy, which is all about preserving or enhancing America’s place in the world.

None of this should surprise anyone who has listened to what Trump has been saying since before being re-elected.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO

Trade rebalancing and tariffs remain central to Trump’s foreign policy

Another key element that should surprise no one is that Trump sees rebalancing trade as a key part of America’s diplomatic efforts.

“The United States will prioritize commercial diplomacy, to strengthen our own economy and industries, using tariffs and reciprocal trade agreements as powerful tools,” the strategy states.

“The goal is for our partner nations to build up their domestic economies, while an economically stronger and more sophisticated Western Hemisphere becomes an increasingly attractive market for American commerce and investment.”

The sole mention of Canada in the document is a call for us, and other Western allies, to adopt “trade policies that help rebalance China’s economy toward household consumption.”

Trump’s strategy delivers a harsh assessment of Europe’s political trajectory

The part that is surprising to see in print is the harsh assessment of Europe, which the document says faces civilizational erasure.

“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,” it states.

Harsh, but all of it is true.

It’s also true that Europe’s relationship with Russia is a byproduct of the continent’s lack of self-confidence. The European Union has a population of more than 450 million people compared to Russia’s 146 million and the EU economy is nearly ten times larger than Russia’s.

Despite that, the EU has been useless at ending the war in Ukraine and until recently was focused on American aid.

This document clearly upends the liberal order that had been taken for granted in Western capitals, but it is simply a synthesis of the thinking of Trump and those around him.

The main message Canadians can and should take away is that tariffs are not a negotiating tactic and they aren’t going away.

Of course, those who have been paying attention to what Trump says and does already knew that.

blilley@postmedia.com