Washington's engagement with the Middle East is quickly shifting from a security-centric focus to one of investment and economic opportunities, the White House said on Friday.
In the first national security review since President Donald Trump returned to office in January, Washington attacked Europe and warned it faces “civilisational erasure” because of its immigration policies.
The legally mandated review underscores Mr Trump's “America First” doctrine and marks a jarring break from the more diplomatic tone used by former president Joe Biden's administration, which sought to strengthen traditional alliances.
The new strategy lays out Mr Trump's priorities and signals a shift from the Middle East towards the Western Hemisphere, where the US now wants to “restore American pre-eminence”, as evidenced by the continuing military build-up in the Caribbean and the targeting of alleged drug boats.
The 29-page document says the Middle East is more stable, largely because Iran has been “greatly weakened” by Israeli actions since October 7, 2023, as well as the US bombing of its nuclear facilities.
“Middle East partners are demonstrating their commitment to combating radicalism, a trend line American policy should continue to encourage,” the review states. “But doing so will require dropping America’s misguided experiment with hectoring these nations – especially the Gulf monarchies – into abandoning their traditions and historic forms of government.”
Mr Trump has deepened his personal ties with regional leaders and sees Middle Eastern countries as ripe for economic opportunities. Arab nations are “emerging as a place of partnership, friendship, and investment”, the document states. “The key to successful relations with the Middle East is accepting the region, its leaders, and its nations as they are while working together on areas of common interest.”
It adds that the US maintains a “core interest” in securing Gulf energy supplies but the days in which the Middle East dominated American foreign policy are “thankfully over".
“Not because the Middle East no longer matters, but because it is no longer the constant irritant, and potential source of imminent catastrophe, that it once was.”
This year, Mr Trump made his first major foreign trip to the region, and his efforts to settle the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza have been a major focus. But the US wants to shift its focus from the Middle East, the administration says, as America is less dependent on its oil supply.
European civilisation
The US is seeking to broker an end to Russia’s nearly four-year war in Ukraine, a goal that the national security strategy says in America's interests.
But the document makes clear that the US wants to improve its relationship with Russia after years of Moscow being treated as a global pariah, and that ending the war is a core US interest to “re-establish strategic stability" with its Cold War rival.
The document also accuses America’s long-standing European allies, which have found themselves sometimes at odds with Mr Trump’s shifting approaches to the Russia-Ukraine war, of facing not just domestic economic challenges but an existential crisis.
Economic stagnation in Europe “is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilisational erasure”, the strategy document said.
The US suggests that Europe is being weakened by its immigration policies, declining birth rates, “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition”, and a “loss of national identities and self-confidence”.
“Should present trends continue, the continent will be unrecognisable in 20 years or less. As such, it is far from obvious whether certain European countries will have economies and militaries strong enough to remain reliable allies,” the document states.
“Many of these nations are currently doubling down on their present path. We want Europe to remain European, to regain its civilisational self-confidence.”
China-Taiwan
Mr Trump aims to prevent conflict with China over Taiwan and the South China Sea by building up US and allies' military power, according to the strategy memo.
“Deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,” according to the document.
China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own, and Beijing has never renounced the use of force to bring it under its control. China also has vast regional claims, including almost the entire South China Sea, which are disputed by many of its smaller neighbours.
