Trump pauses Ukraine military aid days after Zelensky meeting

Trump’s shift of US policy from explicit supporter of Ukraine to disinterested mediator was met with praise from the Kremlin, whose spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “The new administration is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations. This largely aligns with our vision.”

Asked about those comments on Tuesday (AEDT), Trump maintained that Vladimir Putin wanted to strike a peace deal, but pushed back against the perception he was too close to the Russian leader.

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He reiterated that he gave Ukraine lethal anti-tank weapons and put sanctions on Russia, and noted Putin’s advances – into Georgia (2008), Ukraine’s Crimea (2014) and his full-scale invasion of Ukraine (2022) occurred under the watch of other US presidents.

“Under president [George] Bush they got Georgia. Under president [Barack] Obama they got a nice big submarine base, a nice big chunk of land, Crimea. Under President Trump they got nothing. And under president Biden they tried to get the whole thing … the whole big Ukraine,” Trump said.

“Putin is the one that will tell you this has not been so good for them. I gave Russia nothing except grief. I gave them [Ukraine] sanctions and javelins … and then they say how close I am to Russia.”

It comes as a CBS News/Yougov poll at the weekend showed Americans were evenly divided on how Trump is handling Russia’s war on Ukraine, with 51 per cent approving and 49 per cent disapproving.

But that marked a considerable turnaround from April 2024, when 39 per cent approved of Biden on the topic, and 61 per cent disapproved. The CBS poll was more negative than others on Biden’s performance but broadly matched others as Americans’ support for US involvement in the war dwindled as it dragged on.

The latest survey found about two thirds of Americans still saw Russia as unfriendly or an enemy of the US, but they were evenly divided on whether the US should continue to send weapons or military aid to Ukraine.

Those shifting sentiments may explain why the administration was keen to showcase the Oval Office blow-up, with the White House pumping out material that characterised the interaction as a masterstroke, and allies portraying it as the moment Trump stood up for America against the world.

Trump’s foreign policy upheaval is occurring at the same time he is targeting friends and foes alike with tariffs, including neighbours Mexico and Canada, whose exports to the US are set to be hit with a 25 per cent duty from Wednesday (AEDT).

Those tariffs were announced at the start of February, but Trump quickly initiated a one-month “pause” when the two targeted nations agreed to additional measures on their respective borders with the US.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick had paved the way for a partial backdown, saying on Sunday and Monday that Mexico and Canada had made good progress on reducing illegal border crossings, but had more work to do combatting fentanyl trafficking, and it would be up to Trump to decide whether the tariffs were modified.

But Trump indicated he was not for turning. “No room left for Mexico or for Canada,” he said when asked if there was still time for a deal. “The tariffs they’re all set, they go into effect tomorrow. Vast amounts of fentanyl have poured into our country.”

The confirmation sent stock markets tumbling, with the Nasdaq down 500 points or 2.64 per cent at the close, and the S&P500 ending the day 1.76 per cent lower.

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Trump also doubled tariffs on Chinese imports from 10 per cent to 20 per cent, blaming the opioid crisis, and announced the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company would invest $US100 billion ($161 billion) to expand its chip manufacturing plants in Arizona.

He said this could provide some level of backstop in the event China isolated or attacked Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of China and which produces the vast majority of the world’s most advanced computing chips.

“It will at least give us a position where in this very important business we would have a very big part of it in the US,” Trump said. “So it would have a big impact if something should happen in Taiwan.”

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