Trump’s actions in Ukraine are U.S. policy as usual

Trump’s actions in Ukraine are U.S. policy as usual

Published by the MN Anti-War Committee on March 20,2025

Trump’s bluster around Ukraine has bewildered people across the political spectrum. His hostility toward Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and his temporary cut to U.S. military aid have some accusing him of “siding with Russia.” On the other hand, Trump’s quick resumption of military aid to Ukraine, and the fact that the war continues, contradicts his campaign-trail claim to be the anti-war candidate. The results of recent U.S.-led negotiations further demonstrate the self-serving nature of U.S. policy in Ukraine. Instead of a ceasefire, Trump secured only a temporary limitation on strikes against energy infrastructure, showing concern only for the destabilization of oil prices — and suggested the U.S. seize control of Ukraine’s energy industry.

The Minnesota Anti-War Committee fights for a world in which peace is attained through justice and nations are able to determine their own destinies, free of U.S. interference. U.S. foreign policy has sought to undermine Ukrainian sovereignty for over a decade. Whatever his supposed stance on this conflict, Trump’s strong-arm demands for U.S. control over Ukrainian mineral wealth follow the same pattern as Obama- and Biden-era policies toward Ukraine.

During Obama’s presidency, the International Monetary Fund insisted that Ukraine’s debt gave the IMF the right to demand the privatization of Ukraine’s economy and the destruction of labor protections. Under Biden, Ukrainian companies were forced into takeover negotiations with US megacorporations like Halliburton and BlackRock. Trump’s claim that U.S. aid gives the U.S. the right to dictate Ukraine’s foreign policy is simply business as usual, not a sudden change.

U.S. intervention has always proven to be predatory. Former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin admitted that the U.S.’s primary goal in aiding Ukraine is “to see Russia weakened,” i.e., killing Russians using Ukrainians as disposable cannon fodder. Just as in Iraq, the U.S.’ aims in Ukraine have never been humanitarian, but rather to create corporate money-making opportunities and to establish a military proxy, with little consideration for how that affects the average Ukrainian.

As we’ve seen with Israel, the U.S. will go as far as financing and arming genocidaires if this aligns with U.S. interests.  But when U.S. objectives come into conflict with those of its proxies — as increasingly may be the case in Ukraine — those allies are tossed aside. 

The Anti-War Committee stands for an end to U.S. intervention in Ukraine, Palestine, Venezuela, the Philippines, and everywhere else. The AWC has opposed U.S. “aid” to Ukraine since the first weapons were shipped to Ukraine in 2014. If the U.S. genuinely wanted freedom and democracy to prevail in the world, it would not prop up a colonial apartheid state in occupied Palestine. It would also not have created the conditions for chaos and violence in Ukraine by impoverishing the country and then arming the most far-right elements of the Ukrainian ultranationalist movement.

We in the U.S. have a duty to fight for the right of people around the world to pursue their own freedom and demand real sovereignty, without the U.S. government dictating the terms or meaning of that freedom.