President Trump will unveil his administration’s National Security Strategy later Monday laying out its objectives and how it views various threats. The strategy, a congressionally mandated document, identifies four national interests: protecting the homeland, advanced American prosperity, preserving peace through strength and pushing American influence by new approaches to
Repeating the emphasis Trump laid out on the campaign trail of “America First,” the officials described a similar aim for this strategy, in which America’s economic prosperity is the key objective.
One emphasis in the document is on China, a country in which the United States is juggling various interests. While the Trump administration has complained about the trade imbalance with China, the White House also has been putting pressure on Beijing to limit its trade with North Korea.
“The strategy refers to China as a strategic competitor… China is effectively across the political, economic, military and informational domain in ways probably not duplicated by our other competitors,” one official said.
“We know that we need China, to work with them, and to continue to work with them on the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or North Korea) problem. It’s not mutually exclusive. We’re working together to cooperate at the same time acknowledging that competition exists as well.”
Senior administration officials said “revisionist powers” that are trying to create a world that is in conflict with American values is one of the big threats, citing China’s action in the South China Sea and very briefly mentioning Russia’s involvement in Ukraine and Georgia.
