On December 1, 2025, the White House unveiled a new U.S. National Security Strategy, a 29-page document that has sent shockwaves through diplomatic circles and foreign policy think tanks alike. This latest vision—widely dubbed the "Trump Doctrine"—marks a fundamental recalibration of America’s role in the world, signaling the end of the so-called Pax Americana era that has defined international relations since the close of World War II. Instead, the strategy embraces a hard-nosed realpolitik, prioritizing U.S. national interests and economic self-sufficiency over the global stewardship that once characterized Washington’s foreign policy.
The Trump administration’s strategy, as reported by Greek City Times and The Times of India, bluntly acknowledges that the United States is no longer the uncontested global superpower. The document states, "After the Cold War, American foreign policy elites assumed permanent global dominance served our interests best. They overestimated America’s willingness and capacity to bear the burdens of a global order, including financing both a vast domestic state and a massive military-diplomatic apparatus, while allowing allies to shift defense costs onto the American people." It’s a stinging critique of decades of bipartisan internationalism, and a clear signal that the U.S. intends to pull back from shouldering the world’s burdens.
What does this mean in practice? The Trump Doctrine pivots away from multilateralism and alliance-driven diplomacy, embracing instead unilateral action and economic nationalism. Tariffs and other economic measures are aimed at "repatriating value from overseas investments," according to the Greek City Times. Military engagement is to be selective, as exemplified by the U.S. approach to Ukraine—maximizing strategic advantage without committing to open-ended conflicts. The document also hints at a future shift in focus toward the Pacific region, with both allies and competitors expected to absorb more of the burden for regional security.
One of the most striking aspects of the new strategy is its redefinition of America’s relationship with its allies—especially India. The Times of India notes that, despite the Trump administration’s imposition of punitive tariffs and a tough stance on Indian economic interests, the strategy seeks to "enlist New Delhi to prevent domination by any single competitor nation while advancing its own primacy." India is referenced four times in the report, including a disputed claim that President Trump brought about a truce in the May 2025 hostilities between India and Pakistan. The document asserts, "We must continue to improve commercial (and other) relations with India to encourage New Delhi to contribute to Indo-Pacific security, including through continued quadrilateral cooperation with Australia, Japan, and the United States ('the Quad')."
The Quad, an informal security grouping of the U.S., India, Japan, and Australia, is seen as a critical bulwark against China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific. According to the Hindustan Times, the strategy notes, "President Trump is building alliances and strengthening partnerships in the Indo-Pacific that will be the bedrock of security and prosperity long into the future." The Indo-Pacific, already accounting for nearly half of global GDP on a purchasing power parity basis and one third on a nominal basis, is forecasted to become an even more significant economic and geopolitical battleground as the century unfolds.
But the document’s tone is unmistakably transactional and, at times, isolationist. Gone is the aspirational language of promoting democracy or upholding a rules-based international order. Instead, the strategy emphasizes sovereignty, homeland defense, self-reliance, and domestic industrial strength. The Times of India observes that the new approach is “a hard pivot toward unilateral action, economic nationalism, and the uncompromising pursuit of ‘core national interests’—sovereignty, homeland defence, self-reliance, and domestic industrial strength.”
For India, this represents a double-edged sword. While the U.S. seeks to strengthen commercial ties and encourage India’s role in Indo-Pacific security, the strategy ultimately frames India as a diplomatic challenge to be managed, rather than a strategic partner to be cultivated. This is a marked shift from previous administrations, which often viewed India as a counterweight to China and a natural ally in preserving regional stability. The report even suggests that the U.S. should "enlist our European and Asian allies and partners, including India, to cement and improve our joint positions in the Western Hemisphere and, with regard to critical minerals, in Africa," as cited by the Hindustan Times. Yet, many in New Delhi and beyond see Washington’s approach as highly transactional, focused more on extracting contributions than on building shared values or long-term alignment.
Meanwhile, the Trump Doctrine’s implications for Europe are equally significant. The Greek City Times points out that Europe is no longer a primary concern for U.S. strategy; rather, the administration expects European nations to develop their own coherent security strategies and muster the capacity to support them independently. The Times of India highlights a particularly pointed section of the report: the U.S. wants to “support our allies in preserving the freedom and security of Europe, while restoring Europe’s civilisational self-confidence and Western identity,” and warns of a future where “certain NATO members will become majority non-European.”
Notably, the new strategy has drawn criticism from across the political spectrum. Europeanists lament that the report makes no mention of the authoritarianism of China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, or other states—reserving its harshest language for Europe’s "anti-democratic" policies. MAGA hardliners, on the other hand, are frustrated by the absence of any reference to the threat posed by Islamic terrorism. Yet, as the Times of India puts it, the one point of consensus is that "the era of the US ‘shouldering the world’s burdens’ is over. It will now march to its own tune—even if it is out of tune."
At the heart of the strategy is a desire to ensure that the U.S. "remains the world’s strongest, richest, most powerful, and most successful country for decades to come," as the Hindustan Times reports. The document singles out China as America’s principal strategic challenge, arguing that President Trump has “single-handedly reversed” decades of what it calls "mistaken American assumptions about China." It contends that, rather than integrating into the rules-based order, Beijing has used its growing wealth and power to secure a disproportionate advantage.
The Trump Doctrine thus represents a historic pivot toward multipolarity, compelling both allies and rivals to assume greater responsibility for their own security and economic futures. For countries like India, the challenge will be to navigate this new, more transactional relationship with Washington, developing independent strategies while still engaging with the U.S. on issues of mutual concern. For Europe, the message is clear: the days of relying on American largesse are over. And for the rest of the world, the Trump Doctrine signals a new era—one in which the United States will act first and foremost in its own interest, reshaping the global order in the process.
As the dust settles on this dramatic shift, one thing is certain: the world will be watching closely to see how America’s allies, competitors, and adversaries respond to the end of Pax Americana and the dawn of a new, more contested era in international affairs.
