National (Energy) Security Strategy

The White House recently released its newly updated National Security Strategy, a roadmap “to ensure that America remains the greatest and most successful nation in human history, and the home of freedom on earth.”

In the document’s opening statement among callouts of securing the border, massive military investments, and strengthening of NATO, Trump makes a specific call out for domestic energy: “We unleashed American energy production to reclaim our independence”

He places energy production among the national-level focus areas to make America “safer, richer, freer, greater, and more powerful than ever before”. Meanwhile, the projected demand continues to skyrocket.

Good luck PJM pic.twitter.com/3I0nN7Hh85

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) December 3, 2025

Recalling our recent discussion about what’s holding back the country’s data center industry, as well as the profile of the one biggest factor that has destroyed Europe’s economic growth, the national security strategy emphasizes the US’ desire for a robust, productive, and innovative energy sector to both fuel America and lead the country’s export industry. Indeed, the US has already obtained the status of net-exporter of energy through the recent ramp-up of LNG production, but, as the administration has highlighted multiple times, the nation intends to use nuclear reactors as political tools as well.

Exporting an energy asset like a nuclear power plant is a massive political leverage tool that can last upwards of 100 years. Just look at the iron grip on some eastern European countries that Russia still wields with its nuclear reactors. While the bulk of the relationship ended after the reactor was constructed, the fuel for the reactors was continuously provided by Russia for decades after the plant was first commissioned. That fuel isn’t exactly easy to replicate and just swap over to another provider. It took Westinghouse several years to develop replacement fuel for the VVER series reactors, and only just started production of some of the first rounds of it in Hungary.

With the US announcing their intent to export the AP1000 design, and likely the BWRX-300, they are attempting to use the following nuclear fuel orders, and engineering assists for major refits, as a way to maintain a controlling political relationship with the country where the reactor is located. This is one of the main reasons China and Russia export their reactor designs throughout locations in Europe, Asia, and Africa. The US is embarrassingly behind on the utilization of this political tool, but Trump’s May executive orders announced that it’s finally time to catch up.

This brings the total nuclear reactors under construction in China to 30, followed by India (6) and Russia (5).

There are no new nuclear reactors under construction in the US currently. https://t.co/f9O1m7HGTN pic.twitter.com/vkXUWp8YW3

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) December 12, 2025

Under the header of economic security, the administration has declared the objective to restore American energy dominance through oil, gas, coal, and nuclear power. The intent is to reshore the necessary energy components to facilitate the national build out of these assets and prepare them for mass exporting.

Energy is lastly discussed as one of the main reasons we have been focused on the Middle East for so many decades. Explaining that multiple previous dynamics no longer hold, the US now stands as a diversified importer of energy and a net-exporter. America under Trump hopes to finally rescind its focus on the Middle East as it instead becomes a source and destination for international investment in industries like nuclear energy.