The army of USA will prioritize protecting the national territory and deterring China, while providing “more limited” support to its allies and putting China at the top of its agenda. Latin Americaaccording to a Pentagon strategy document released Friday.
The 2026 National Defense Strategy (NDS) marks a significant change from previous Pentagon policies, both in its emphasis on partners shouldering greater burdens with less support from Washington, and in its more moderate tone toward traditional adversaries such as China and Russia.
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“As U.S. forces focus on homeland defense and the Indo-Pacific, our allies and partners elsewhere will assume primary responsibility for their own defense, with crucial but more limited support from U.S. forces.”says the document.
The previous defense strategy, which was published during the mandate of Joe Bidendescribed China as the most transcendental challenge for Washington and stated that Russia represented a “acute threat”.
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The new text, however, calls for maintaining “respectful relationships” with Beijing, not to mention Taiwanisland of democratic regime allied with USA to which China claims as his own. Additionally, it describes the threat of Russia as “persistent but manageable”which particularly affects the eastern members of NATO.
Both Biden and Trump’s strategies note that homeland defense is important, but their descriptions of the challenges facing the United States differ significantly.
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The Trump administration’s NDS attacks the previous administration for neglecting border security, saying this led to a “flood of illegal immigrants” and in widespread narcotics trafficking.
View of the Pentagon in Washington, DC President Donald Trump will rename the Department of Defense the “War Department,” the White House announced. Photo: AFP
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“Border security is national security”and the Pentagon “will therefore prioritize efforts to seal our borders, repel forms of invasion and deport illegal immigrants”adds the document.
Restore “military dominance” in Latin America
During his administration, Biden focused on China and Russiaby stating that they raised “most dangerous challenges to safety and security at home” than even the threat of terrorism.
This 2026 roadmap also fails to mention the dangers of climate change, which the previous US president’s administration had identified as an “emerging threat.”
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Like Trump’s national security strategy, released last month, the NDS elevates Latin America at the forefront of the agenda USA.
The pentagon “will restore American military dominance in the Western Hemisphere”. “We will use it to protect our national territory and our access to key lands throughout the region”he assures.
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Since returning to office last year, Trump has repeatedly employed the US military in Latin Americaeven ordering a shocking raid that captured the Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro and his wife, as well as attacks against alleged drug smuggling vessels that left more than 100 dead.
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