The draft of the Pentagon’s newest National Defense Strategy reflects the dramatic decline of U.S. imperialism

By Michael Pröbsting, Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), 10 September 2025, www.thecommunists.net

According to POLITICO, the draft of the newest National Defense Strategy, which comes out at the start of each administration and defines its foreign policy and military strategy, implies a major shift from recent Democrat and Republican administrations. Since Barak Obama and his “pivot to Asia”, Washington has focused on this region and named China as its most important adversary.

The actual draft for this strategy document calls for a change of course and defines the homeland and Western Hemisphere as the new focus. In other words, the document determines that American military should prioritise its resources mainly to the U.S. itself as well as to Latin America and North America (including Greenland). [1]

If adopted, the document would codify a dramatic reversal in the foreign policy of U.S. imperialism. It would mark the end of its attempts to defend its status the global hegemonic power. As the RCIT has analysed since one-and-a-half decades, one of the key features of the current historic period has been the decline of the U.S. – the long-time absolute hegemon – and the rise of Chinese imperialism. [2] As a result, the rivalry between these two Great Powers has been the most important element in global political relations. [3]

A retreat to the homeland and Western Hemisphere reflects the fact that Washington has no longer the economic and military resources to simultaneously contain China and Russia, control the Middle East, and dominate the other regions. As we have pointed out before, the Trump Administration seems to accept that it can not stop China and Russia from playing a key role in world politics. [4] Hence, it retreats from challenging their strong impact in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. Instead, Washington would, according to the draft document, focus on dominating Southern and Norther America and possibly Europe.

Furthermore, the new doctrine also reflects the deepening domestic crisis of U.S. imperialism. America’s economy suffers from decades of deindustrialisation, dependency on imports and accelerating indebtedness. Its society is riven with explosive political and social contradictions. Hence, the Trump Administration is increasingly deploying troops in American cities and at the border. Its domestic policy is a pre-emptive civil war of a ruling class in deep crisis. [5]

Of course, the document has not been officially adopted yet. And given its dramatic implications, it is most likely that a sizeable section of the political elite – in particular the so-called China hawks like Lindsey Graham which are still very influential in both parties – will vehemently protest against such a shift in America’s foreign policy.

However, if one looks back at the foreign policy decisions of the Trump Administration since January, we can see that it has already undertaken a series of steps in this direction. In addition to deploying troops in major U.S. cities and militarising the border regions, Washington has sent a naval force to the Caribbean and threatens to attack Venezuela, likewise it publicly speculates about military strikes in Mexico (“combatting narco-terrorism”), and it calls for the annexation of Canada and Greenland. Likewise, it tries to squeeze Europe (including Ukraine) economically as much as possible.

At the same time, Trump has postponed imposing high tariffs on China again and again and rolled out the red carpet for Putin. He repeatedly threatened to end support for Ukraine and called the country as equally responsible for the invasion like the Kremlin. ^[6] Likewise, the U.S. has ended financing the so-called Baltic Security Initiative (directed against Russia) and withdrew, according to the Financial Times, from its agreements with Western allies to “combat fake news from Russia, China and Iran”.

In short, the policy of the Trump Administration is characterised by a retreat from its main adversaries – China and Russia – and an attempt to plunder and dominate the weaker allies in the Western Hemisphere. The declining former hegemon sets itself more realistic goals.

As readers of our publications will be aware, over the past decade we have been engaged in a number of debates about the decline of U.S imperialism and the rise of China (and Russia) as Great Powers. We have defended the Marxist analysis which recognises China’s transformation to a capitalist power and the consequential inter-imperialist rivalry as a key feature of world politics. In contrasts, our opponents accused us of overestimating the decline of the U.S. as well as China’s (and Russia’s) political, economic and military strength. What will they say now in the light of recent events?! [7]