THE Trump administration has published its new national security strategy.

It is premised on the idea that the US must remain the dominant power in the world; it is replete with the words “leading” and “first.”

The whole world will be treated to a combination of economic and military threats amid a determination that every country must be subordinate to US interests. As such, the flimsy document represents an unscrupulous declaration of intent to dominate the whole world, ally and foe alike. It is a serious threat to us all.

We cannot be certain where this will all lead. It seems clear that even this administration does not believe that a war can be won against China in the near-term, and that its strategic goal of breaking the Russia-China link must be achieved first. In that sense, the strategy document is for the build-up to war, not war itself.

But the build-up has severe consequences for the world, especially for Latin America. We can see those consequences being played out now by the US armed forces in the Caribbean, with the illegal seizure of the Venezuelan oil tanker and oil headed for Cuba.

This has rightly been described as an act of international piracy, especially as Donald Trump boasted that the US would keep the oil itself. It exposes the administration’s lies around drug trafficking and demonstrates the real purpose of US aggression and intimidation; robbery and regime change. Of course we should oppose the US actions and demand that the Labour government do the same.

It should be clear too that the US piracy is acting in line with its own strategy. This is dignified in the document as the “Trump Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine. This includes removing the influence of all other powers from the Americas, once again asserting that it is “US backyard.”

It also includes blocking trade and investment relationships with countries except the US, which can only be extremely damaging to economic prospects for the whole of Latin America.  

If European, and Chinese firms are forced to retreat from the continent, Trump has no intention of replacing them with US production and employment. On the contrary his “America First” dogma is designed to force US firms operating overseas to reshore to the US, which will once again drive inflation higher for US consumers.

Politically, this means that no opposition to the US within the Americas is permitted. This would explain why a Cuba-bound Venezuelan oil tanker was the first target.

Cuba has long been the main target of successive US administrations, as it offers a different model to the US and refuses to accept its diktats. Venezuela became the other target after the rise of Hugo Chavez and the adoption of Cuba-style policies aimed at benefitting the poor.

These US actions show that “peace president” is nothing of the kind. Instead, the strategy explicitly states the intention to subordinate the entire Latin American continent so it becomes a mere supplier to the US of raw materials, not just oil but also rare earth minerals. At the same time, there is a ferocious drive to attack Hispanic migrants to the US, which is already costing Trump political support domestically.

All of this is cast in terms of economically and militarily strengthening the US ahead of the next conflict with China. Latin America and its hundreds of millions of people are reduced to extras in Trump’s war movie, “How I Prepared to Defeat China.”

In reality, it is the exploitation of Latin America and Africa combined with the subordination of Europe which are key to Trump’s strategic aims. Naturally, it is the terms of that subordination of rich Western European countries (as well as Japan and Australia) to US war aims which has so exercised commentators in Europe, including in Britain.

But they largely miss the point. The reason that just two and a half pages out of 29 are devoted to Europe is not because Trump thinks Europe is unimportant. He believes it is very important because (combined with other US “allies”) its GDP is slightly larger that the US.

The view expressed in the document is that Europe’s riches are important to subordinate to US war aims, euphemistically called its “national security strategy.”

It is obvious why the governments of Europe who have gone along with Trump’s war drive would be anxious not to highlight these points. Even so, the document is truly shocking.

After bemoaning the weak pace of European GDP growth over the last 35 years (although it is not much weaker than the US), the strategy states: “this economic decline is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilisational erasure.

The larger issues facing Europe include activities of the European Union (EU) and other transnational bodies that undermine political liberty and sovereignty, migration policies that are transforming the continent and creating strife, censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition, cratering birthrates, and loss of national identities and self-confidence.

Should present trends continue, the continent will be unrecognisable in 20 years or less.”

As it goes on to outline, this is a white supremacist view of Europe’s failings. The cause of the crisis is too much immigration, the effect is economic and therefore military weakness combined with welfarism.

For the US, the remedy is to halt immigration and cut back on the state to pay for rearmament. This requires governments from the right and far right to carry out, because of Europe’s vested interests.

The essence of the national security strategy for Europe is its subordination to the US while remaking it in the image of the US, or least Trump’s MAGA version of it.

The terrible irony is that Europe’s centrist leaders, Merz, Macron and Starmer are already carrying out this agenda. They are rearming rapidly and paying for US weaponry by slashing public sector spending. They are clamping down on immigration, removing the rights and civil liberties of residents and ramping up racism.

They have gone along with tariffs and other damaging measures. They have proven their loyalty by helping with war crimes and genocide.

Yet still this is not enough. Trump wants openly subservient formations in charge, such as the AfD, the Front National and Reform UK.

It is an all-embracing, dystopian vison for Europe and we need leaders who will stand up to him. There is an alternative.

In Spain the socialist-led government has its faults, but does not go along with costly Nato rearmament, or cutting public spending, or whipping up racism. That is a much better, safer path.

Diane Abbott is the Mother of the House (of Commons) and a Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987.