'America is in the game, and America is going to win'
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Echoing his 2016 presidential campaign message, the President declared in a speech introducing his strategy: “America is in the game, and America is going to win.”
The remarks at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington were largely another reiteration of his “America First” doctrine, which emphasises national sovereignty and the economic implications of global participation. Officials have said the core principles of the strategy have already been put into practice.
While discussing his strategy, Mr Trump
seemed to envision nations in constant competition and brushed aside
Obama-era warnings on climate change. The President also stressed that
the US would defend its sovereignty at all costs, even if that meant
ripping up existing agreements.
The strategy focuses on four main
themes: protecting the homeland, promoting American prosperity,
demonstrating peace through strength and advancing American influence in
an ever-competitive world.
Along with listing off the threat of
rogue regimes like North Korea, Mr Trump said, “We also face rival
powers, Russia and China, that seek to challenge American influence,
values, and wealth.”
“We will attempt to build a great
partnership with those and other countries, but in a manner that always
protects our national interest,” he added.
He then noted how Russian President
Vladimir Putin had called him the previous day to thank America for
intelligence the CIA had provided regarding a planned terror attack in
St Petersburg.
“Many people, perhaps in the thousands,
could have been killed,” Mr Trump said. “They were able to apprehend
these terrorists before the event, with no loss of life. And that’s a
great thing, and the way it’s supposed to work. That is the way it’s
supposed to work.”
He continued: “But while we seek such
opportunities of cooperation, we will stand up for ourselves, and we
will stand up for our country like we have never stood up before.”
Both China and Russia have sought
to “change the status quo”, according to Trump administration officials,
in a manner the US opposes and could challenge American interests. As
examples, an official cited Chinese military expansion and
island-building in the South China Sea and Russia’s 2014 annexation of
Crimea from Ukraine.
Mr Trump also made the decision to exclude climate change from a list of global threats in his strategy. The Obama
administration had first included the phenomenon, said to be a major
cause of the recent massive wildfires in California, in its own national
strategy in 2015.
The strategy sets a goal of being an
“energy-dominant nation” but does say the US “recognises the importance
of environmental stewardship”.
In his speech, the closest Mr Trump came
to mentioning the topic of climate change was in his reference to his
decision to pull out of the landmark Paris climate accord, which was
aimed at fighting global warming.
The move was criticised by world
leaders, but the US President maintains that the agreement is “very
expensive and unfair” for the US. Opponents of Mr Trump’s decision have
said the President is forsaking America’s role as a global leader by
withdrawing from the deal.
But Mr Trump on Monday faulted previous US leaders for failing to look out for the nation’s citizens.
Mr Trump stressed his “serious plan to
defend our homeland”, again calling for the construction of a border
wall with Mexico and pledging to end “chain migration” of immigrants’
relatives and to close “loopholes that undermine enforcement” of
immigration restrictions.
He also said that for the first time,
American strategy recognises that economic security is national
security. This calls for cutting taxes and rolling back unnecessary
regulations, he said.
Links
- Trump’s decision to ignore climate change’s threat endangers everyone
- Trump drops climate change from national security strategy
- Under Trump, climate change not a national security threat
- Ignoring Public Opinion and Pentagon, Trump Denies Climate Change Is Threat to National Security
- Trump's national security plan scraps climate change, confirms US will defend sovereignty at all costs
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