# Allies and burden-sharing

Washington Reorders Priorities: Defense Strategy Pivots to the Western Hemisphere and Demands Allies Pay Up

The U.S. 2026 National Defense Strategy reorients American priorities toward securing the homeland and the Western Hemisphere, explicitly protecting strategic corridors from Greenland to the Panama Canal while urging allies to shoulder more defence responsibilities. It downplays naming China as the principal threat and omits Taiwan, opting instead for deterrence measures in the Indo‑Pacific, a stance that has unsettled European, Latin American and Asian partners.