A reported plan by the Trump administration to continue military aid to Ukraine, combined with demanding a 5 percent increase in NATO member states’ defense spending, is a stark example of the contradictions and inconsistencies that plague both the US foreign policy establishment and the Trump presidency.
One would have to question both the moral and economic rationale of US involvement in Ukraine’s conflict with Russia. It is the long-held conviction of libertarians that foreign intervention and military aid only worsen and prolong conflict, undermine national sovereignty, and deplete resources from the US economy.
Trump’s proposition to keep the aid to Ukraine running defies the promises he made during his presidential campaign. His commitments to scale down US involvement in foreign wars seem to ring hollow. Further, his highly-publicized claim of ending the Ukraine-Russia conflict on day one—within 24 hours—doesn’t look like it will materialize at all, but instead continue with heavy handed US involvement.
Moreover, the requirement to increase NATO member state defense spending by 5 percent is a thinly-veiled attempt to continue the status quo with the United States being a military police in Europe. While Trump has threatened to leave NATO numerous times, his request to increase funding only strengthens and emboldens them to continue acting as the police of the world. All this also entails that it is pure imperialism for the US to create a requirement for other nations through means of economic coercion and military pressure to bend to its will.
It is ironic that Trump promised to reduce US debt and military spending would now be advocating for increased defense expenditures before he’s even stepped foot into the office. This hypocrisy is compounded by the fact that the US is already shouldering a disproportionate burden of NATO’s military costs, while other member states contribute relatively little.
The Ukrainian conflict is certainly the best example of how US interventionism has been so devastating: US military and diplomatic support has only served to prolong a humanitarian crisis, destabilize the region, and create an environment that could foster further conflict and aggression. While this aggression continues, we inch further and further away from a peaceful resolution and closer to the brink of a full-on nuclear war.
By continuing aid to Ukraine, and Trump calling for increased NATO defense spending, we will see an increase in aggression and an emboldening of NATO to “pick sides” in sovereign nation’s conflicts regardless of their NATO membership (e.g., Ukraine). This is not only a betrayal of Trump’s campaign promises, but a betrayal of many of the most basic of libertarian principles. However, his eagerness to continue the status quo of US foreign policy, which is both imperialistic and interventionist, shouldn’t come as such a surprise. Trump isn’t truly an outsider so much as he plays one on TV. Most importantly, even those who wholeheartedly support Trump should deplore this type of hypocrisy. Instead, we should advocate, without intervening, a foreign policy with respect for national sovereignty while promoting peace by non-aggression.
