Sea power in the modern age — why Trump is taking over maritime trade routes

When Iran threatens the Strait of Hormuz, it can rattle the global economy overnight. As tensions sharpen focus on the narrow corridor through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil flows, the stakes extend well beyond the immediate crisis.  

This moment reveals a deeper strategic logic behind President Trump’s “America First” doctrine: a renewed emphasis on controlling the maritime chokepoints that underpin economic and geopolitical power. 

Trump’s foreign policy is often dismissed as impulsive or incoherent. Viewed through the lens of 19th-century naval strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan, however, it is not improvisation or madness, but a clear effort to reassert U.S. influence over the sea lanes and narrow passages that govern global trade and power.

Although Trump has never explicitly cited Mahan, his emphasis on rebuilding U.S. maritime capacity and securing strategic trade routes aligns closely with Mahanian principles. 

In “The Influence of Sea Power Upon History,” Mahan argued that national strength flows from control of maritime routes. Command of these arteries secures commerce, access to resources and geopolitical advantage. After World War II, the U.S. translated that insight into practice, dominating key sea lanes and underwriting an international system that fostered prosperity, technological diffusion and democratic norms. 

But that dominance has eroded. OPEC reshaped energy politics and offshoring weakened elements of U.S. industrial capacity. Meanwhile, China’s Belt and Road Initiative expanded Beijing’s reach across ports and infrastructure worldwide.  

Against that backdrop, “America First” can be read as a course correction. Its logic prioritizes leverage over critical chokepoints, including Hormuz, Suez, Panama and Malacca. The concentration of global energy that flows through these narrow passages underscores both their vulnerability and their strategic importance. 

Recent U.S.-Israel operations targeting Iranian capabilities reflect this reality. Degrading threats to Hormuz aims to secure that vital energy corridor and preserve freedom of navigation — a core tenet of Mahan’s theory of power. 

To be sure, critics warn that such an approach risks escalation and overreliance on military leverage. Yet beneath the rhetoric lies a broader pattern: using economic tools, energy policy and alliances to rebuild U.S. influence over global logistics networks.  

The implications of this extend to China. A renewed focus on chokepoints complicates Beijing’s efforts to reduce its own vulnerabilities and constrains its room to maneuver internationally. Seen this way, “America First” is less a retreat than a reconfiguration of global strategy, grounded in enduring principles of sea power. 

In a world still defined by chokepoints, control of geography means control of power. The question is whether the U.S. will continue shaping those flows or cede that role to others. 

Alan Waite is CEO of Praxis Consulting and an adjunct professor of project management at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee School of Continuing Education.

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