Trump’s new security strategy exposes the limits of NZ’s ‘softly-softly ’ diplomacy |
President Donald Trump’s recently-issued National Security Strategy marks a decisive break in United States foreign policy. It also poses an uncomfortable challenge for New Zealand and other countries that have long depended on a rules-based order.
The document formalises the most significant shift in Washington’s global outlook since 1947. It confirms, as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned earlier this year, that the “West as we knew it no longer exists”.
By claiming that liberal democracies in the European Union were on a trajectory towards “civilisational erasure”, the Trump administration framed Europe as being in deep decline.
On that basis, it pledged to support far-right populist parties that, in its words, “oppose elite-driven, anti-democratic restrictions on core liberties in Europe, the Anglosphere and the rest of the democratic world”.
The security strategy also stated Europe should “take primary responsibility for its own defence” at a time when it acknowledged “many Europeans regard Russia as an existential threat”. At the same time, it made clear the US would increasingly focus on its “Western Hemisphere”.
More broadly, the document prioritised state sovereignty, rejected multilateral institutions unless they directly advanced US interests, advocated limits on immigration and free trade, and outlined a........