Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a gathering at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu, March 25, 2025. (Asia-Pacific Center for Security)

America’s allies and partners in the Pacific are important to the Trump administration as it pursues “peace through strength,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday in Honolulu during the first leg of his inaugural trip to the region.

“President Donald Trump has made it clear that we will achieve peace through strength, through an America First approach,” said Hegseth, whose remarks at the Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies were livestreamed to military and civilian leaders in the Indo-Pacific region.

“But America First does not mean America only or America alone, ignoring allies and partners,” he said. “It means that our military-to-military relationships must make sense for the United States and for our friends.”

Hegseth arrived in Hawaii on Tuesday and met with Adm. Samuel Paparo, head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. He next travels to Guam, then to the Philippines and Japan, to meet with senior U.S. and foreign military and civilian leaders.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth presents the Navy and Marine Corps Medal award to Chief Petty Officer Pierce Decker at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickman, Hawaii, March 25, 2025. (Joseph Rolfe/U.S. Navy)

He arrived in Hawaii amid controversy swirling around his role in the reportedly accidental leak of plans for a March 15 attack on the Houthis in Yemen to Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of The Atlantic magazine, via a chat group on the Signal app.

Brian Hughes, the spokesman for the National Security Council, confirmed “the veracity of the Signal group,” according to Goldberg.

Questioned by reporters in Hawaii, Hegseth criticized Goldberg as “deceitful” and “discredited.” On Tuesday, administration officials appeared before a Senate committee to deny that any classified information was shared on the group chat.

“Nobody was texting war plans and that’s all I have to say about that,” Hegseth said in Hawaii on Monday, The Associated Press reported.

While Hegseth sought to reassure allies and partners of their importance during Tuesay’s speech, he hinted that changes to those relationships may lie ahead.

“Where there are imbalances, we will fix them,” he said. “We will find them, and we’re going to fix those imbalances. We will right-size the obligations and responsibilities needed for modern deterrence and defense – a large part of the conversation the admiral and my team had yesterday.”

Trump has long suggested that America’s allies, particularly those in Europe, rely too much on U.S. arms and troops. During his first administration, Trump pushed South Korea and Japan to pay more to support the U.S. military presence there.

Hegseth told the audience the administration would “achieve peace through strength” through the triad of “restoring the warrior ethos, rebuilding our military and reestablishing deterrence.”

Hegseth’s emphasis on these three priorities, however, are more a continuation than a departure of the previous Joe Biden administration.

“The cornerstone of America’s defense is still deterrence, ensuring that our adversaries understand the folly of outright conflict,” former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a change-of-command ceremony in April 2021 at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii.

“[W]e’ll use existing capabilities, and build new ones, and use all of them in networked ways — hand in hand with our allies and partners,” he said.

Hegseth told the audience he would look for opportunities to collaborate with defense industries and “press hard to expand capacity and accelerate deliveries.”

He touted the White House announcement last week that Boeing would build the Air Force’s next-generation fighter jet, the F-47, to eventually replace the F-22 and F-35 jets.

The sixth-generation fighter would be “the most capable, most lethal, longest-range, most stealth fighter jet the world has ever seen,” Hegseth told the audience.

It is unclear, however, what appetite many of America’s allies have in continuing to acquire advanced fighter jets from the United States.

Some NATO countries, including Denmark, Portugal and Canada, are reconsidering relying on F-35 jets over concerns about American reliability as Trump at times seemingly regards allies more as foes than friends.

Hegseth dismissed such misgivings as unwarranted.

“We will work with our allies and our partners to deter the Communist Chinese and their aggression in the Indo-Pacific, full stop.

“To paraphrase the president, I say to all of you who are here with me today and listening from around the region, we have been friends, partners and allies for a long time, and we will remain friends, partners and allies for a long time to come.

“But I need — we need — each and every one of our friends and partners and our allies to do their part as well, to be force multipliers alongside the United States of America. That has to be a two-way street.”