{"id":616374,"date":"2025-12-06T17:43:19","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T17:43:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/616374\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T17:43:19","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T17:43:19","slug":"inside-trumps-america-first-agenda-for-europe-news-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/616374\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda for Europe | News World"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n\t\tDonald Trump has said that Europe is heading for \u2018civilisational erasure\u2019 and will be unrecognisable in decades in his new National Security Strategy (Picture: Reuters)<\/p>\n

Synonymous with Trumpian politics is the president\u2019s protectionist \u2018America<\/a> First\u2019 policy.<\/p>\n

Tough border controls, tariffs on imports and a strong military are all well known hallmarks of the Maga regime.<\/p>\n

However, a new document has shed light on what America First could mean for Europe in the coming years.<\/p>\n

Trump has issued his National Security Strategy \u2013 a document typically released at least once every presidential term \u2013 and it is unsurprisingly a very different read from the one directed by his predecessor Joe Biden<\/a> in 2022.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s also a departure from Trump\u2019s first strategy paper in 2017, which distinguished the world between free and \u2018repressive regimes\u2019.<\/p>\n

This time the emphasis is far more on asserting America\u2019s dominance across several fields and the prioritisation of trade links over democratic values.<\/p>\n

Among its eye-catching claims is that the continent is heading for \u2018civilisational erasure\u2019 and could look \u2018unrecognisable in 20 years or less\u2019.<\/p>\n

What is Donald Trump\u2019s America First agenda?<\/p>\n

America First has been one of the defining principles of the Trump administration, both the first and latest iteration.<\/p>\n

It sets out a protectionist programme designed first and foremost to serve the interests of the United States above all else.<\/p>\n

Although originally coined during the tenure of president Woodrow Wilson to describe America\u2019s originally non-interventionist policy in the First World War, the term was given fresh meaning by the Maga movement.<\/p>\n

More recently the phrase was the subject of disputes within pro-Trump circles, particularly in relation to the president\u2019s intervention in foreign conflicts, including the US strikes<\/a> on Iranian nuclear sites this year.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tTrump with China\u2019s leader Xi Jinping. The US president\u2019s strategy now places trade ahead of values (Picture: Reuters)
\nHow Trump\u2019s America First agenda could affect Europe?<\/p>\n

In his latest document, Trump gives a telling glimpse both into his outlook for Europe and the role he sees America playing (or not) in global affairs.<\/p>\n

He explains that the US wants the \u2018western hemisphere\u2019 to \u2018be reasonably stable and well-governed enough to prevent and discourage mass migration to the United States\u2019.<\/p>\n

In America\u2019s interest is to \u2018restore Europe\u2019s civilisational self-confidence and Western identity\u2019, it continues.<\/p>\n

It says the latter is evident from the European response to the Ukraine-Russia war. <\/p>\n

Europe should also \u2018abandon its failed focus on regulatory suffocation\u2019, it adds.<\/p>\n

But the paper also envisages a world in which the US drives forward global change: militarily, technologically and commercially through trade.<\/p>\n

The document goes on to explain that America can and will achieve its aims through a combination of maintaining its \u2018unrivalled\u2019 soft power, \u2018willpower and patriotism of the American people\u2019 and military might.<\/p>\n

On foreign policy, it offers a prospectus of \u2018peace through strength\u2019, while protecting sovereign nations over \u2018most intrusive transnational organisations\u2019 \u2013 what could be interpreted as a reference to the EU, Nato and the ICJ.<\/p>\n

The US, it sets out, will also insist on \u2018fair\u2019 trade policies from other nations and will not tolerate \u2018trade imbalances, predatory economic practices, and other impositions on our nation\u2019s historic goodwill that disadvantage our interests\u2019.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\tTrump has committed to \u2018significant diplomatic engagement\u2019 on Ukraine while remaining ambiguous on military support for the rest of Europe (Picture: AFP)
\nWhat does Trump\u2019s First agenda mean for US support for Ukraine?<\/p>\n

Through his America First programme, Trump has indicated willingness to intervene in foreign conflicts provided it serves his nation\u2019s interests.<\/p>\n

This is backed up by the national security paper, which says: \u2018American foreign policy elites convinced themselves that permanent American domination of the entire world was in the best interests of our country. Yet the affairs of other countries are our concern only if their activities directly threaten our interest.\u2019<\/p>\n

In Ukraine<\/a>, this has meant in practice applying pressure on both Putin and Zelensky to make concessions and reach a peace agreement, while brokering a mineral deal with the latter as financial compensation for military funding.<\/p>\n

But the paper does acknowledge that the war will require \u2018significant US diplomatic engagement\u2019 to prevent it escalating into \u2018conflict between Russia<\/a> and European states\u2019.<\/p>\n

However it notably declines to elaborate on whether the US would be directly involved should such a global conflict arise.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tTrump’s Europe agenda: The key points\t\t\t<\/p>\n