How to Handle a Pro-Russian US President

US President Donald Trump has thrown his mask. He is no longer hiding that he is fully behind Putin and his war of aggression against Ukraine.

At the outset of his presidency, he stopped all funds and arms for Ukraine, but now he has hindered the last piece, intelligence. Meanwhile, he tries to boost the Russian economy by promoting its diesel exports and trying to force Europe to purchase Russian gas, while the Trump family attempts to make giant energy deals with Putin.

Ukraine and Europe are facing the question: How should they handle a pro-Russian US President? The issues are many and complex. How explicit should they be in their criticism? What areas should be given priority? How fast do they need to move? The general answer is that they need to move very fast but should be as quiet as possible and don’t believe that you can persuade Trump.

In her new book, “Unreliable Boyfriend,” Chrystia Freeland, former deputy prime minister of Canada as well as trade minister, offers wise advice on how to deal with Donald Trump from her experience: “Don’t start a fight, but don’t back down from one, either.”

The policy of European politicians has evolved. Initially in 2025, many tried to flatter Trump and be friendly with him, notably NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, but now everybody but Rutte has abandoned that approach, because the more you bend to Trump, the more outrageous he becomes.

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In the next stage, notably after Trump’s scandalous invitation of Putin to Alaska in August 2025, European leaders together with President Zelensky flew to Washington and tried to engage with Trump in private, avoiding public criticism. Arguably, they achieved some results, but no US security guarantees for Ukraine. And that experience dissuaded them from trying again. Trump just continues his anti-Ukrainian lies, even voting three times against condemning Russia’ war of aggression in the UN.

So far, the best outcome of EU diplomacy on Trump has been the September US-Denmark-Greenland agreement on Greenland, which is essentially a renewal of the US-Danish agreement of 1951. Denmark could achieve this by acting fast in great unity internally and with European allies, mining the Greenland landing strips and showing that European troops were ready to shoot on American invaders. Illicit American mineral exploitation on Greenland was blocked. The code words were speed, unity and determination.

At present, contacts between European leaders and Trump are minimal. They all avoid criticizing Trump directly, hoping not to get into a shouting match with him. But this is not enough. The Trump administration is now preparing an offensive against the EU. Elon Musk and J.D. Vance have already campaigned for Alternative for Germany. Next year, Europe has plenty of national elections. The US State Department is planning to spend substantial amounts on the anti-EU extreme right, notably Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in France and the Law and Justice party in Poland.

Europe can no longer be passive. Nor can it pretend that the US is an ally. It is an enemy that supports Russia, opposes Ukraine, and wants to destroy the EU. Americans tend to say that the US is not only one man, but today Trump dictates US foreign policy. As long as the GOP controls the Congress it is irrelevant. It just spent months adopting a meaningless Russia sanctions law, which Trump dismissed with one simple letter. Even a Congress dominated by the Democrats can hardly stop the foreign policy of this president who does not respect any laws.

Trump has already ended NATO as a deterrent against Russia, though it remains as an organization. Europe and Canada could transform NATO by eliminating the US staff and elements as fast as possible. To judge from the current discussion, satellite intelligence appears to be a key European shortcoming. Europe needs to swiftly develop that intelligence to Ukraine’s and its own benefit, and it needs to arm as fast as possible. The most important reform of NATO would be to incorporate Ukraine as soon as possible, but that can only happen when the US has been excluded.

The battlefield in Ukraine is the most important area of military innovations in the world. Any arms producer who is absent will soon become obsolete. This offers Ukraine great leverage. It should only permit companies to enter whose governments can offer firm guarantees that they will not suddenly end supplies.

Europe cannot accept that the US government tries to undermine the EU, democracy and truth in Europe. The EU should adopt a law prohibiting external state financing of political parties and nongovernmental organizations as it has already done with regard to Russia. X and Meta have been repeatedly accused of interfering in various countries’ elections with their Trump-biased algorithms, most recently in Brazil. Thanks to its new digital legislation, the EU can check their excesses and should do so.

Incredibly, but not surprisingly, Trump’s businessmen envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff appear to have spent their most recent meetings with Putin and the official Ukrainian delegation on discussing how they can benefit from Russian energy assets – Lukoil’s assets abroad and Nord Stream 2. Trump wants to allow Russia to sell diesel abroad. The US aspires to seize Russian central bank assets frozen in Europe to its and Putin’s benefit. Personal enrichment seems to be the prime objective of the Trump administration.

The EU does not have much time left. If Marine Le Pen wins the presidential elections in France next April, the EU unity is likely to evaporate. The EU needs to seize the $200 billion frozen in Euroclear Bank in Brussels before Trump and Putin do so. This should be the top issue on the EU agenda. If these funds are given to Ukraine as compensation for the damage Russia has caused the country, Ukraine will have sufficient financing to win the war this winter.