Welcome to CFR’s Daily News Brief. Today we’re covering the Trump administration’s new National Security Strategy, as well as...
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The Trump administration pledged to deprioritize Europe and focus more on the Western Hemisphere in a new National Security Strategy released last night. The document had not been updated since 2022, when the Biden administration listed competition with China and Russia as top priorities. Trump’s strategy focuses on trade imbalances, halting mass migration, and energy dominance. It broadly encourages partner countries around the world to take more responsibility for security in their respective regions.
On Europe, the document calls for quickly ending hostilities in Ukraine, reestablishing “strategic stability” with Russia, and “ending the perception, and preventing the reality, of NATO as a perpetually expanding alliance.” It criticizes European officials for “unrealistic expectations” regarding the war in Ukraine, claiming that the “subversion of democratic processes” in Europe is blocking a broad public desire for peace. The document is a shift from Trump’s first-term national security strategy in 2017, which pledged to work with Europe to “counter Russian subversion and aggression.”
Trump’s new strategy devotes the bulk of its attention to the Western Hemisphere, where it aims to reduce migration, fight crime, and preserve access to critical supply chains. It reasserts the 19th-century Monroe Doctrine rejecting external influence in the region. It also calls for a broad shift of military attention toward the hemisphere and away from other theaters—including the Middle East, which the strategy says has decreased in relevance due to greater U.S. energy independence. The strategy gives little attention to Africa, mainly identifying it as a source of natural resources.
While the strategy commits to keeping the Indo-Pacific free and open, it also calls on Pacific allies such as Japan and South Korea to play a larger role in making that happen. It notes that “deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority” and reiterates the current U.S. policy of rejecting “any unilateral change to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait.”
More broadly, the strategy elevates U.S. economic interests of reindustrialization, access to critical supply chains, and fortifying the defense-industrial base. It criticizes attempts to impose on other countries “democratic or other social change that differs widely from their traditions and histories,” a break from the Biden strategy’s affirmation of support for democracy in the face of rising global autocracy. Trump’s new strategy also rejects efforts to address climate change, calling it a threatening ideology.
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“It is unclear how the ‘predisposition to non-interventionism’ squares with the reasserted Monroe Doctrine or present focus on regime change in Venezuela. But no written document can guide, capture, or discipline President Trump’s foreign policy—it is too impulsive, erratic, and opportunistic. Further, the unceremonious rollout—a late-night release seemingly without an accompanying speech by the president or national security advisor—suggests the White House may see the National Security Strategy mostly as a box-checking exercise, rather than a binding statement of strategic intent.”
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—Senior Fellow Rebecca Lissner tells the Daily News Brief
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In shallowly engaging with Kinshasa and Kigali, Washington does little to promote peace and risks insulating leaders from accountability, CFR expert Michelle Gavin writes in this article. |
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India-Russia ties. During Putin’s visit to New Delhi today, the countries vowed to deepen defense, energy, and economic cooperation, issuing a joint statement celebrating their “time-tested relationship.” Their deepening ties come as the Trump administration has called for India to stop buying Russian oil and applied an additional 25 percent tariff on Indian goods. Putin vowed to provide India with an “uninterrupted” fuel supply, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for an end to the war in Ukraine. The leaders signed agreements on labor mobility, fertilizer, and tourist visas for Russian nationals.
Video of boat strike. Pentagon officials yesterday showed a closed-door meeting of lawmakers video footage of a controversial follow-up action on September 2 that followed an initial U.S. strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean. After the first strike killed nine passengers, two survivors were trying unsuccessfully to flip over a portion of the capsized boat when they were killed by the second strike, multiple media outlets reported. Republican lawmakers praised the Pentagon's actions, while Democrats said the video confirmed their concerns about the strike being improper.
Peace deal ceremony. The leaders of the DRC and Rwanda signed a peace deal in Washington yesterday, a symbolic cap to the agreement that Trump helped broker in June. However, questions remain about its implementation and violence continues in the eastern Congo between the Congolese army and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels. While a Rwandan government spokesperson told NPR the agreement was not a “magic wand,” she said “there have been important steps” since the deal was reached in June.
Anti-Hamas militia leader killed. Yasser Abu Shabab, the leader of an anti-Hamas militia in Gaza backed by Israel, was killed yesterday while attempting to resolve a family dispute, his militia said, though the precise circumstances of his death remain unclear. Hamas, which has worked to crack down on rival groups since the Gaza truce, referred to Abu Shabab as a traitor but did not claim involvement in his killing.
Digital payments in Syria. Visa will begin operating in Syria as the country’s economic reconstruction progresses, the company and Syrian central bank governor Abdulkader Husrieh announced yesterday. Husrieh said Damascus aimed to make Syria a financial hub for the region. The International Monetary Fund pledged to assist with building out its financial system following a staff visit to the country last month.
App ban in Taiwan. Taipei announced it is banning Chinese photo-sharing app Xiaohongshu for one year starting today. The government said the app—known as RedNote in English—had not protected users from scams and lacked a local office as required by Taiwanese law. It is rare for Taiwan to ban access to an app in spite of security concerns with China. Xiaohongshu did not immediately comment on the ban.
Mulling USMCA. The Trump administration is open to leaving the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA), or trying to negotiate separate agreements with Canada and Mexico, if that will yield better results for the United States, Trade Representative Jamieson Greer told Politico. The trade deal is up for review next year.
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Political debate over immigrants’ economic contributions has ramped up under the second Trump administration, CFR’s Diana Roy writes in this article. |
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Today, a UN environment assembly focusing on cities and regions takes place in Nairobi.
Today, FIFA holds the final draw in Washington, DC for the group phase of next year’s World Cup. - Tomorrow, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz visits Israel.
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Sunday, Hong Kong holds a Legislative Council election.
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Europeans were surprised at aspects of a U.S.-proposed peace deal regarding the return of Russian frozen funds and the stationing of NATO military assets, CFR expert Liana Fix says in this YouTube Short. |
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