Putting Trump on paper: What the new US strategy documents say about the Middle East

Trying to capture US President Donald Trump’s proudly unpredictable approach to foreign policy in fixed policy documents is inherently difficult. Surprise, leverage and improvisation are not bugs in Mr Trump’s world view; they are features. Yet the administration has now attempted this exercise twice: with the release of the National Security Strategy last December and the National Defence Strategy this January.

Mr Trump is unlikely to feel bound by every line in either document. He considers unpredictability a strategic asset – both against adversaries and, at times, against his own allies. Still, taken together, these texts matter. They provide the clearest available statement of the administration’s underlying world view, strategic priorities and regional intentions. They also reveal how Mr Trump’s personal instincts intersect with longer-standing currents within the American right: scepticism towards multilateralism, emphasis on sovereignty and power, and preference for transactional alliances.

Three top-line lessons emerge from reading the two documents together.

الصورة من تصوير أليكسي ج. روزنفيلد/Getty Images

معهد الشرق الأوسط (MEI) هو منظمة تعليمية مستقلة وغير حزبية وغير ربحية. لا يشارك المعهد في أي أنشطة دعوية، وآراء الباحثين فيه تعبر عن آرائهم الشخصية. يرحب المعهد بالتبرعات المالية، لكنه يحتفظ بالسيطرة التحريرية الكاملة على أعماله، ولا تعكس منشوراته سوى آراء المؤلفين. للاطلاع على قائمة المتبرعين للمعهد، يرجى النقر هنا.