Trade, Strategic Resources and Logistics: the Backbone of U.S. National Security –Trade News | 31/12/25

The U.S. National Security Strategy 2025 reshapes Washington’s global approach by positioning trade, strategic resources and critical logistics infrastructure as core components of national power and security, treating the global economy as a geopolitical battlefield rather than a neutral liberal order. The strategy abandons the post-Cold War free-market orthodoxy in favour of a competitive, territorialized logic where flows, nodal points and logistics chokepoints —such as key maritime routes, ports and strategic passages— are as significant as military alliances. It emphasises securing access to critical minerals, energy, industrial components and essential technologies, and frames commerce as subordinated to state power, with tariffs, reciprocal agreements and selective restrictions used strategically to condition privileged access to the U.S. market. The document also highlights systemic competition with China —not only militarily but in shaping supply chains and financing infrastructure in the Global South— and proposes strengthening aligned economic, financial and technological partnerships to protect U.S. interests and redefine interdependence. Link to Article