NATO and Strategic defense alliances

In the re-evaluation of America's commitment to bilateral agreements and multilateral organizations in the international economy within the framework of America First, it also follows that America's financial and resource commitment to multilateral and bilateral strategic defense agreements would also be re-assessed. Compared to international trade policy, however, the Trump administration's approach to changing existing strategic defense infrastructure is arguably more conservative, calling for modest, almost more symbolic, modifications at best. This underscores the importance the Trump administration places on military pre-eminence in America's strategic priorities, as well as the importance to which the administration gives America's global military presence. Traditional alliances and support for democratic countries continue to play an important role in US foreign policy under the current administration.

The Trump administration has called for the international community to "step up" in its participation in its own defense, most recently visible through President Trump's call for NATO members to meet their pledge of spending 2% of their GDP on defense, again, nominal but more importantly, symbolic, again with the objective of achieving a more balanced resource-sharing arrangement in collective security agreements. 

On the flip side is the idea that through the doctrine of Peace through Strength, America would be ideally be able to invest more in safeguarding peace through defensive measures, utilizing direct confrontation only as necessary to eliminate imminent threats to global and US national security.