The Trump administration will prioritize deployments in the Western hemisphere to battle drug trafficking and migration, the White House said in a significant strategy paper that was quietly published overnight.
The long-awaited national security strategy falls short of the tough rhetoric against China that hawks in Washington have called for — its release was reportedly delayed by a push to soften language about Beijing.
Criticism of Russia over its invasion of Ukraine is also muted, though ostensible allies in Europe are lambasted for censorship and lax migration policies. Still, as Politico’s senior foreign affairs correspondent noted,
“Trump is mercurial by nature, so it’s hard to predict how closely or how long he will stick to the ideas laid out.”