‘We are putting America first!’ Trump says he ‘will stand up for our country like we have never stood up before’ as he officially labels China and Russia rival powers and pledges to take ‘all necessary’ steps to halt North Korea’s nuclear ambition
Trump said his top priorities are protecting America’s way of life, promoting the nation’s prosperity and advancing U.S. influence
Strategy is a rejection of the previous administration’s move toward isolationism
Also rejects Obama’s premise that climate change is a national security threat
Crux: America’s economic competitiveness is essential to national security
President is giving the speech not at the White House but at the Ronald Reagan building a few blocks away
Challengers to American prosperity fall into three categories: revisionist powers, including China and Russia, rogue regimes such as Iran and transnational organizations like ISIS
By FRANCESCA CHAMBERS
DAILYMAIL.COM
18 December 2017
President Donald Trump reinforced his ‘America First’ principle this afternoon as he outlined his administration’s National Security Strategy.
Following on a formal document detailing his administration’s top priorities, Trump committed his administration to protecting Americans’ way of life, promoting the nation’s prosperity and advancing U.S. influence in a rejection of the previous administration’s move toward isolationism.
‘We are putting America first,’ Trump stated.
Trump pledged in his remarks to take ‘all necessary’ steps to halt North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un’s nuclear advance and officially labeled China and Russia rival powers.
A senior official said Sunday evening that the crux of Trump’s speech is that America’s economic competitiveness is essential to national security.
‘We will protect our national security innovation base from those who steal our intellectual property and unfairly exploit the innovation of free societies,’ an outline of the National Security Strategy compiled by the White House says.
The administration intends to build its defense and counter terror strategies, including its ballistic missile review, off the principles outlined in the 70-page security document that’s accompanying the commander-in-chief’s remarks.
‘This strategy advances what I would call principled realism that really does take a clear-eyed view of the threats that we face and the fact that we live in an ever-competitive world,’ the official said. ‘And in some ways, the global balance of power has shifted in unfavorable manners to American interests.’
Trump’s national security document is intended to serve as a blueprint for America to ‘regain momentum to reverse many of these trends,’ the senior White House aide said, ‘while recognizing there are some very, very new threats that we have to have new strategies to address.’
Challengers to American prosperity fall into three categories under the administration’s new policy: so-called revisionist powers that the administration believes are seeking ‘to shape a world antithetical to our interests and values,’ including China and Russia, and rogue regimes such as Iran and North Korea that sponsor terror and threaten America’s allies and transnational organizations like ISIS that ‘foment hatred to incite violence against innocents in the name of their wicked ideology.’
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