Carlos Barria / EPA
New strategy seeks “respectful relations” with Beijing and considers Russia “controllable”. Priority now goes to “borders invaded by narco-terrorists” and “expulsion of illegally staying foreigners”.
The North American armed forces intend to provide “more limited” support to European allies to prioritize internal security and deterrence in relation to China, announces the new Pentagon defense strategyreleased Friday.
The “National Defense Strategy 2026”, an unclassified document released by the United States Department of Defense, marks a rupture with the Pentagon’s previous policy, both due to the emphasis placed on the fact that the United States’ allies must assume more responsibility for their defense, and due to a more moderate tone towards the United States’ traditional enemies, namely China and Russia.
“While American forces focus on defending their territory and the Indo-Pacific region, our allies and partners will assume responsibility for their own defense, with essential, but more limited, support from American forces”, write the services of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, in a document published after a week of unprecedented crisis between Washington and its NATO allies over Greenland.
Priority: Latin America
The document begins by critically describing the national defense strategy of the previous Joe Biden Administration, arguing that “the President [Donald] Trump took office in January 2025 in one of the most dangerous security scenarios in the country’s history. Domestically, America’s borders were overrun, narco-terrorists and other enemies became more powerful throughout the Western Hemisphere, and U.S. access to strategic territories such as the Panama Canal and Greenland was increasingly compromised.”
On the other hand, if the previous national defense strategy, published during Joe Biden’s presidency, described China as the biggest challenge to Washington and stated that Russia represented a “serious threat”, the new document defends “respectful relations” with Beijingwithout making any mention of Taiwan, an ally of the United States, which China claims as its territory, as well as describing the Russian threat as “persistent but controllable”, affecting several NATO members.
O Pentagon “will prioritize efforts to close bordersrepel any form of invasion and expel illegally staying foreigners“, the 2026 document also says.
Similar to the “National Security Strategy” published by the White House in early December, the Pentagon places the Latin America at the top of priorities Americans, stating that “will reestablish United States military dominance on the American continent”.
“We will use it to protect our homeland and our access to key areas of the region”, the document reads.
“We will protect the borders and maritime approaches to the United States and defend our country’s skies through the Golden Dome for America and a renewed focus on combating unmanned aerial threats”, establishes the Pentagon, expressing itself determined to guarantee “US military and commercial access to strategic terrain, especially the Panama Canal, the Gulf of America and Greenland”and to “provide President Trump with credible military options to use against narco-terrorists, wherever they may be.”
“This is the Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, and the American armed forces are ready to apply it with speed, power and precision, as the world saw in Operation ABSOLUTE RESOLVE”, which resulted in the extraction of Venezuelan President, Nicolás Maduro, in Caracas on January 3, to take him to a court in New York, writes the Pentagon.
“Position of strength” towards China
Regarding China, the document ensures that “Trump seeks stable peace, fair trade and respectful relations” with Beijing, and “has demonstrated that he is willing to dialogue directly with the president [chinês] Xi Jinping to achieve these goals.”
However, he adds, “President Trump has also shown how important it is negotiate from a position of strength”which highlights a “simple objective”: “to prevent any country, including China, from dominating us or our allies — in essence, establishing the military conditions necessary to achieve the objective of the NSS [estratégia de segurança nacional] of a balance of power in the Indo-Pacific that allows us all to enjoy a dignified peace.”
“To this end, as directed by the NSS, we will erect a strong deterrent defense along the First Island Chain [linha estratégica de arquipélagos no Pacífico Ocidental, estendo-se do Japão, Taiwan e Filipinas, até à Indonésia, ao longo da costa leste da China]” and “we will encourage and enable key regional allies and partners to do more for collective defense”, strengthening defense through deterrence, “so that all nations recognize that their interests are best served through peace and containment”, the document states.
