President Trump outlined his goals for military modernization and economic advancement Monday, as he unveiled his national security strategy in a speech in Washington.
The strategy document which every president is required by law to produce offers a blueprint for Trump's military and foreign policy. It could help to guide future decisions on defense spending, trade negotiations and international cooperation.
"What we have built here in America is precious and unique," Trump said. "We must love and defend it, we must guard it with vigilance and spirit, and if necessary, like so many before us, with our very lives."
The security strategy is built around four pillars: protecting the homeland; promoting prosperity; peace through strength; and advancing American influence.
The document, as well as Trump's speech on Monday, has clear echoes of things Trump said on the campaign trail in 2016.
"Unfair trade practices had weakened our economy and exported our jobs overseas. Unfair burden-sharing with our allies and inadequate investment in our own defense had invited danger from those who wish us harm," Trump wrote in the document's introduction. "Nearly one year later, although serious challenges remain, we are charting a new and very different course."
The document identifies three types of challenges: revisionist powers such as Russia and China; rogue regimes like North Korea; and transnational actors such as ISIS.
The strategy acknowledges that some players may be both allies and competitors. The United States is counting on China, for example, to help contain North Korea's nuclear threat, even as the administration tries to counter what it sees as China's unfair trading practices.
Likewise, the U.S. remains wary of Russia's movements in Ukraine. But that didn't stop the CIA from sharing intelligence with Russia to help foil a potential terrorist plot in St. Petersburg actions that prompted a thank you call to Trump over the weekend from Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"President Trump stressed the importance of intelligence cooperation to defeat terrorists wherever they may be," the White House said in a statement detailing the call.
Trump has campaigned for a substantial buildup in U.S. military forces.
"We will stand up for ourselves and we will stand up for our country like we have never stood up before," Trump said Monday.
But it's not clear Congress will provide the necessary funding. Lawmakers are still operating under budget caps negotiated in 2011.
While congressional Republicans have pushed to lift the cap on defense spending, Democrats have demanded a corresponding increase in domestic programs. The likely passage of a GOP tax bill, which is expected to drain $1 trillion from the U.S. treasury over the next decade, won't make this political contest any easier.
"Unless the president is able to pull a rabbit out of his hat and get Congress to significantly raise or eliminate the budget caps, I don't think a significant increase in the size of the military is likely to happen," said Todd Harrison, a defense analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
An alternate approach, Harrison says, would be to dial back the demands on the military. But while Trump talked during the campaign about reducing or ending America's security obligations overseas, he has since reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to defending allies in Europe and Asia.