‘Stunning reversal’: Pentagon drops China as top threat in ‘dramatic’ new defense strategy

The Pentagon on Friday night released a long-awaited National Defense Strategy that marks a “stunning reversal” from decades of U.S. policy by shifting the focus away from China and toward defending the U.S. homeland and the Western Hemisphere.

That’s according to a report in Politico, which added that the new Trump administration strategy breaks sharply from both Democratic and Republican administrations – including President Donald Trump’s first White House term.

“The National Defense Strategy — a dramatic shift from even the first Trump administration — no longer focuses primarily on countering China,” Politico reported Friday. “Instead, it blames past administrations for ignoring American interests and jeopardizing the U.S. military’s access to the Panama Canal and Greenland.”

According to the strategy, past administrations pursued what it calls “grandiose strategies” while neglecting the “practical interests” of the American public. While the document acknowledges that “Europe remains important,” it argues the continent now holds “a smaller and decreasing share of global economic power” and should no longer be the primary focus of U.S. defense planning.

The strategy stops short of labeling Europe a place in “civilizational decline,” but, as Politico noted Friday, “it does emphasize what the administration perceives as its declining importance.”

While China remains a concern, the emphasis has changed, with the Pentagon now calling for continued diplomacy with Beijing while “erecting a strong denial defense” in the Pacific to deter conflict. The document does not detail which forces or assets would be deployed, Politico pointed out.

Russia, Iran, and North Korea are mentioned as threats – but they play a secondary role, the document states.