There are those who note the use of the phrase "spheres of influence" and the world "multipolarity" in the National Security Strategy (NSS) document issued by the Trump administration in November 2025.
This and the segment on the so-called "Trump Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine", may be interpreted as dividing the globe into areas within which other powers will not insinuate themselves.
However, I maintain a contrary view.
My belief is that the NSS document is simply a redesigned "Wolfowitz Doctrine". That doctrine, which was enunciated during the immediate post-Cold War period in the 1990s, stated that
after the dissolution of the USSR the United States would do what it could to prevent the rise of another power to take the place of the USSR. And in maintaining this unipolar world, the United States would dispense with multinational agreements and the strict rule of international law.
The United States will therefore continue to exert different forms of pressure to continue weakening Russia, as well as to contain China's economic rise.
Russia.
The claim that Trump is "abandoning" Ukraine as a proxy charged with helping to weaken Russia is an ill-informed one. Members of the Trump administration have previously spoken of a "division of labour" whereby Europe takes over the burden of financing the Ukraine war with the US profiting by providing the weapons.
After all, the NSS document also refers to "burden sharing" with a network of partners around the globe. This is where the Trump administration's insistence that its NATO allies increase defence spending comes in.
It is also pertinent to note that the CIA is heavily involved in aiding Ukraine in its attacks on Russian territory using drone warfare. Ukraine has been militarily defeated by Russia in a conventional war but the United States (and its NATO allies) will help it continue to fight Russia not only through drone attacks, but by using insurgency techniques which include sabotage and conducting assassinations. The precedent for this was the support given by the CIA and MI6 to the repurposed remnants of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) and the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) which attacked the Soviet state in the early period of the Cold War.
China.
Back in 2018, a paper by the US Naval War College Review addressed the issue of hurting Chinese trade by means of blockade. Titled "A Maritime Oil Blockade Against China—Tactically Tempting but Strategically Flawed", the paper contended that economic warfare against a competitor is not a substitute for defeating them in a military campaign.
But defeating China in a war is not a realistic prospect.
The Chinese provided this lesson during the Korean War when after General McArthur's brilliantly executed amphibious landing at Inchon, Chinese forces inflicted losses on U.S.-led United Nations forces when they got too close to the Chinese border. A naval campaign spearheaded by the U.S. Navy anywhere close to the Chinese coast would be destroyed by drone and missile attacks.
The NSS document is vague on the means by which China will be weakened, but American strategy will necessarily be focused on economic means and the document refers to working with partners such as Japan and Australia to weaken Chinese global influence.
Conclusion.
Thus, far from dividing the world into spheres of influence, for the United States, the objective still remains global hegemony in the military, financial and informational spheres.
©
Adeyinka Makinde (2026).
Adeyinka Makinde is a writer based in London, England. He has an interest in geopolitics.
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