Map: US Grand Strategy for the Multi-polar World

Mapping the "Donroe Doctrine"

Overstretched by challenges in the three primary theatres of geopolitical conflict, Europe, East Asia, and the Middle East, as well as by fiscal and political pressures at home, the US needs to retrench.

While the debate between primacists, prioritizers, and restrainers is  ongoing, the 2025 National Security Strategy and military interventions in Venezuela and Iran illustrate the strategic posture of the Trump administration.

There is a consensus across all factions to secure the US “backyard” in the Western Hemisphere as an exclusive zone of interest where the US can regenerate its strength. Hegseth’s recent revival of the century-old “Greater North America” security perimeter underlines where the US locates its vital security interests: from Greenland in the North through the Panama Canal all the way to the littoral states of the “Gulf of America” north of the equator. 

The regime change in Venezuela demonstrates that the US is serious in reviving the Monroe Doctrine and signals to Moscow and Beijing that the Washington will not tolerate outside interference in its backyard. 

Trump’s threats to “take” Cuba, Greenland, and the Panama Canal, make Canada the “51st state,” “start hitting land” in Mexico and Colombia, and get rid of “illegitimate regimes” like Nicaragua are informed by the goal of securing US primacy in Greater North America.

All factions agree that the US must shift the burden of conventional defense onto the shoulders of its allies and extract greater tributes to balance its books.

What remains fiercely contested is how the US should secure its interests in its traditional spheres of influence in Europe, East Asia, and the Middle East. 

Primacists, who currently hold the upper hand in Washington, push to defend US primacy at all costs, including war and regime change. 

Restrainers, most importantly Vice President J.D. Vance, want to retain US influence in all three regions but oppose wars, seeking instead to redirect scarce resources to rebuild the US heartland.

If the war against Iran ends in disastrous failure, the balance of power in Washington between primacists and restrainers may shift toward the latter.