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    A Trump-Putin pact is emerging – and Europe is its target | Rafael Behr

    A prime time current affairs programme; a discussion about Donald Trump’s handling of the war in Ukraine. “He’s doing excellent things,” says a firebrand politician on the panel, before listing White House actions that have belittled Volodymyr Zelenskyy and weakened his battlefield position – military aid suspended; satellite communications obstructed; intelligence withheld. “Do we support this?” It is a rhetorical question.“We support it all. Absolutely,” the celebrity host responds. “We are thrilled by everything Trump is doing.”Such approval might not be out of place on polemical rightwing channels in the US, but these exchanges weren’t broadcast to American audiences. The show’s anchor is Olga Skabeyeva, one of Vladimir Putin’s most dependable propagandists. To hear the highest pitch of praise for Trump’s bullying of Ukraine you need to watch Russia’s state-controlled Channel One.This being a Kremlin script, the enthusiasm was soon leavened with suspicion. For now the pressure on Kyiv is great, Skabeyeva continued, but what will the Americans want in return?It is a good question, although that doesn’t mean there is an answer. It is a mistake to project coherence on to the erratic moves of an overgrown toddler-tyrant. Illusory patterns might be traced in the chaos, the way faces can be found in drifting clouds if you stare hard enough. But Trump does have predictable tastes and grudges. He loves money and status. He hates obstacles to the acquisition of those things. He is well disposed to Russia, seeing it as the kind of place where good deals can be done. He is hostile to the upkeep of Ukrainian independence, which he sees as a bad use of US treasure, wheedled out of Joe Biden (withering disdain) by the crafty Zelenskyy (deep dislike).These petty prejudices are strongly enough held to sway US foreign policy in a Kremlin-friendly direction without the additional requirement of a strategy. There is plenty for Putin to work with.When Russian and US delegations met in Saudi Arabia last month to discuss a resolution to the war in Ukraine, the most revealing feature of the conversation was the exclusion of any Ukrainians.Less discussed, but still significant, was the inclusion in Putin’s delegation of Kirill Dmitriev, an alumnus of Stanford University, McKinsey and Goldman Sachs, now head of the Russian state investment fund. His pitch was that US businesses have foregone billions of dollars in profits by quitting Russia. Sanctions against Moscow are presented as another way that Ukraine and its European accomplices are ripping off America. Shortly after the Saudi meeting, Dmitriev was formally appointed Putin’s “special representative for investment and economic partnership with overseas countries”, with a mandate covering deals with the US.The proposed model, unnamed but also unhidden, is partition. Washington gets access to Ukrainian mineral resources. Moscow gets a fat slice of Ukraine. Russia and America reset diplomatic relations and renew commercial ties without any of the old fuss around rule of law and human rights – an oligarch entente.There are many reasons to recoil from such a deal. It would be a cynical betrayal of Ukraine and a renunciation of the transatlantic alliance. It would reward a dictator’s rapacious territorial aggression. It would embolden him to violate the sovereignty of other neighbouring countries, whose western orientation Russia has never stopped resenting since they escaped Soviet vassalage. It would license similar ambitions wherever authoritarian regimes fancy unilaterally redrawing disputed borders.But none of those objections move Trump. Not long ago they might have found a voice in the Republican party establishment. But the Maga personality cult appears to have deactivated the GOP’s capacity for foresight, erased its memory and dissolved its conscience.Instead of applying a corrective lens to Trump’s venal myopia, America’s former cold warriors add their own distorting filters to the White House’s pro-Russia tilt. One common rationalisation is to cast it as a tactical play in a great game with the ultimate goal of isolating and containing China. Advocates of this manoeuvre seem not to have considered the possibility that Beijing is the obvious beneficiary from sabotage of the international legal apparatus that Washington built. China will gladly fill any void left by America’s retreat into narcissistic commercial protectionism.Meanwhile, the evangelical Christian side of the US right finds inspiration in examples of reactionary dogmas of the Russian Orthodox church wired into laws of authoritarian repression. Putin has proscribed “LGBT extremism” and, late last year, “child-free propaganda” – anything that discourages women from fulfilling their patriotic duty to breed new citizens.This ideological affinity is cherished also by Russian nationalist commentators. They welcome the Trump regime as a powerful ally in global resistance to the effeminate moral degeneracy emanating from the continent they call “Gayrope”.Hostility to Europe, and the EU in particular, is where the various strands of a potential Maga-Putin front come together. The Russian and US presidents share a venomous resentment of the soft power that Brussels wields through the aggregation of many national markets into one trading bloc.From Trump’s point of view, the EU is a wicked cartel, denying US farms and businesses their inalienable right to sell to millions of European consumers. For Putin, it is an enemy apparatus, part of the post-cold war western expansion that locked Russia out of its natural sphere of influence.For both men, the idea of pooling sovereignty among democratic nations for mutual economic advantage is incomprehensible. To negotiate as equals with the EU – a flimsy paper entity without any tank divisions to call its own – is absurd and abhorrent. Their answer to soft power is to confront it with the hard stuff, connive in its dismemberment and share the spoils.This is the subtext of negotiations to end the war that Putin started and that Trump wants to end without regard for justice. They are rehearsing a shared agenda through the proxy of partitioning Ukraine, exploring the scope of a partnership that has a deeper foundation than America’s former allies want to admit. It might not come to fruition. Trump is easily distracted, but also easily bought and Russia has put a predatory joint venture on the table. Europe is the prey.

    Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist More

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    Trump administration briefing: education department to be halved as Trump walks back Canada tariffs

    The US Department of Education intends to lay off nearly half of its workforce, the department has announced. The layoffs of 1,300 people were announced by the department on Tuesday and described by the education secretary, Linda McMahon, as a “significant step toward restoring the greatness of the United States education system”.In a post on X, McMahon said: “Today’s [reduction in force] reflects our commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers.”After the most recent round of layoffs, the department’s staff will be roughly half of its previous 4,100, the agency said in a statement. According to the department, another 572 employees had already accepted “voluntary resignation opportunities and retirement” over the last seven weeks. The newly laid-off employees will be placed on administrative leave at the end of next week.US education department to lay off 1,300 people as Trump vows to close agencyThe announcement that the US Department of Education intends to lay off nearly half of its workforce has been met with swift condemnation from Democratic and progressive officials. The Texas representative Greg Casar wrote in a post on X that those in charge were “Stealing from our children to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.”Trump campaigned on a promise to close the Department of Education, claiming it had been overtaken by “radicals, zealots and Marxists”. At McMahon’s confirmation hearing, she acknowledged that only Congress had the power to abolish the agency but said it might be due for cuts and a reorganization.Read the full storyTrump walks back 50% Canada tariffs after tit-for-tat dayDonald Trump announced he was doubling tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum from 25% to 50% as a retaliation for the province of Ontario’s imposition of a 25% surcharge on electricity exports to several US states – and then walked back the decision after Ontario relented hours later.Tuesday was marked by chaos as the US and Canada escalated their trade war. New tariffs of 25% on all imported steel and aluminum are still scheduled to take effect at midnight on Wednesday, including against allies and top US suppliers Canada and Mexico, the White House confirmed to Reuters.Read the full storyUS resumes help for Ukraine as Kyiv accepts 30-day ceasefire deal Ukraine said it was ready to accept an immediate 30-day ceasefire in the war with Russia, as the US announced it would immediately lift its restrictions on military aid and intelligence sharing after high-stakes talks in Saudi Arabia.Donald Trump said he now hoped Vladimir Putin would reciprocate. If the Russian president did, it would mark the first ceasefire in the more than three years since he launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.Read the full storyJudge blocks Trump administration plan to cut millions for teacher trainingA federal judge in Boston on Tuesday blocked the Donald Trump administration’s plan to cut hundreds of millions of dollars for teacher training, finding that cuts are already affecting training programs aimed at addressing a nationwide teacher shortage.Read the full storyJudge halts Louisiana’s first death row execution in 15 yearsA federal judge has halted Louisiana’s first death row execution using nitrogen gas scheduled to take place next week. US district court judge Shelly Dick issued a preliminary injunction on Tuesday, stopping the state from immediately moving forward with the execution – which would have been Louisiana’s first execution in 15 years. Liz Murrill, the attorney general, said the state will immediately appeal against the decision.Read the full storyWhite House says Columbia University refusing to shop students for arrestThe Trump administration said on Tuesday that Columbia University was “refusing to help” the Department of Homeland Security identify people for arrest on campus, after immigration authorities detained a prominent Palestinian activist and recent Columbia graduate over the weekend.Read the full storyHouse Republicans pass Trump-backed spending billHouse Republicans pulled off a near party-line vote on Tuesday to pass their controversial funding bill to curb the looming government shutdown, shipping it off to the Senate, where it still will face an uphill battle to pass.The Trump-backed bill passed 217 to 213, with the Kentucky representative Thomas Massie casting the sole Republican “no” vote. The Democrat Jared Golden of Maine joined Republicans in backing the measure. The stopgap bill would fund the government through September.Read the full storyTrump says he’s buying a Tesla amid Musk boycottDonald Trump said he is buying a “brand new Tesla” and blamed “Radical Left Lunatics” for “illegally” boycotting Elon Musk’s electric vehicle company. The announcement came a day after Tesla suffered its worst share price fall in nearly five years.Read the full storyWhat else happened today:

    At Tuesday’s promotional event for Elon Musk’s line of Tesla electric vehicles at the White House, Trump refused to drive one of the cars, and scoffed at the idea that his predecessor, Joe Biden, had done so at a similar event. There is video of Biden doing so, in August 2021, at an event to promote electric vehicles that Musk reportedly was angry at being excluded from over anti-union policies.

    Elon Musk is “not a serious guy”, said Mark Kelly, the US fighter pilot and astronaut turned Arizona Democratic senator, after the Tesla owner and close Donald Trump ally called him a “traitor” for visiting Ukraine in support of its fight against Russia’s invading troops.

    Former Democratic House member Katie Porter announced she is entering California’s 2026 gubernatorial contest.

    Perkins Coie, a prominent law firm Trump is seeking to punish with an executive order, sued the Trump administration in federal court on Tuesday, saying the firm “cannot allow its clients to be bullied”. The 6 March executive order stripped the firm’s lawyers of security clearances and access to federal buildings, and said the government would review contracts with any of the firm’s clients. More

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    Trump to speak to Putin about ceasefire as Zelenskyy accepts 30-day truce and says ‘Ukraine is ready for peace’ – live

    US president Donald Trump said he hopes Russia will agree to a ceasefire plan drawn up by US and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia.Trump, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, said he would invite Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy back to the White House.He said he hopes the proposal can be solidified “over the next few days”, adding:
    I know we have a big meeting with Russia tomorrow, and some great conversations hopefully will ensue.
    He said he will speak to Russian leader Vladimir Putin about the ceasefire proposal this week. “It takes two to tango, as they say.”Responding to Ukraine accepting the US’s ceasefire plan, the UK’s Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said: “The fastest way to bring peace in Ukraine is for Putin to withdraw his troops immediately.“I’m relieved Trump has now reversed his senseless decision to suspend intelligence-sharing and security aid. There’s no doubt it cost Ukrainian lives and emboldened Putin.“The terrifying thing is: Trump’s so unreliable, we can’t count on him not to do it again.“Now more than ever we must stand with Ukraine and work alongside our European partners to support a just peace, even in the absence of a reliable ally in the US.”Poland has welcomed a deal that will immediately restore US military aid and intelligence sharing to Ukraine.“We are ready as Poland, with an airport, with a hub in Rzeszow, in Jasionka, to accept this aid,” Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, the Polish foreign minister, told the TVN24 news channel.“We maintain operational capability all the time, and we are fully prepared to resume American support.”US president Donald Trump said he wanted to “get this show on the road” and end the war in Ukraine after the countries agreed a plan for a 30-day ceasefire.Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump said: “Ukraine, ceasefire, Ukraine, ceasefire, just agreed to a little while ago.“Now we have to go to Russia, and hopefully President Putin will agree to that also, and we can get this show on the road.“We want to get that war over with.”Seemingly referring to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s turbulent visit to the White House last month, the president said: “I think it’s a big difference between the last visit you saw in the Oval Office, and this.“That’s a total ceasefire – Ukraine has agreed to it, and hopefully Russia will agree to it.“We’re going to meet with them later on today and tomorrow, and hopefully we’ll be able to wipe out a deal.”He added: “If we can get Russia to do it, that’ll be great. If we can’t, we just keep going on and people are going to get killed, lots of people.”It’s 11pm in Kyiv, midnight in Moscow and 5pm in Washington. Here’s a recap of the latest developments on the war in Ukraine:

    Ukraine said it was ready to accept an immediate 30-day ceasefire in the war with Russia following talks with senior US officials in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday. “Ukraine expressed readiness to accept the US proposal to enact an immediate, interim 30-day ceasefire, which can be extended by mutual agreement of the parties, and which is subject to acceptance and concurrent implementation by the Russian Federation,” a joint statement by the Ukrainian and US delegation said.

    The US announced it would immediately lift its restrictions on military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine. US officials said they hoped the agreement would help lead to talks to end the war. The decision came more than a week after the US cut off crucial aid to Ukraine, including deliveries of military radars and ammunition, as well as information sharing, which put significant pressure on Ukraine to agree to a US-proposed deal.

    Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Donald Trump and said Ukraine was committed to seeking a peace “so that war does not return”. “Ukraine is ready to accept this proposal – we see it as a positive step and are ready to take it,” Zelenskyy said. “Now, it is up to the United States to convince Russia to do the same. If Russia agrees, the ceasefire will take effect immediately.”

    Trump said he hoped Vladimir Putin would reciprocate and agree to the ceasefire proposal. Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, is expected to travel to Moscow in the coming days to propose the ceasefire to Vladimir Putin. “Ukraine has agreed to it. And hopefully Russia will agree to it,” Trump told reporters. Trump also said he would welcome Zelenskyy back to the White House after their clash last month.

    US secretary of state Marco Rubio said the ball was “now in Russia’s court” after the negotiations concluded. Rubio told reporters after the talks that he hoped Russia would say yes to the deal. “If they say no, then we’ll unfortunately know what the impediment is to peace here,” he said.

    European leaders welcomed the news of the agreement. European Council president António Costa and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen described the news as a “positive development” and said the EU “is ready to play its full part”. France and its partners “remain committed to a solid and lasting peace, backed by robust security guarantees for Ukraine,” president Emmanuel Macron said.

    UK prime minister Keir Starmer also welcomed the agreement. “We now all need to redouble our efforts to get to a lasting and secure peace as soon as possible,” Starmer said in a statement, adding that he would be “convening leaders this Saturday to discuss next steps”.
    In other news in Europe:

    Ukraine launched its largest drone attack on Moscow since the start of the war overnight on Monday. The Russian defence ministry reported that 337 drones were launched at Russia, including 91 targeting the Moscow region, killing three people, causing fires and disrupting flights and train services.

    Portugal’s parliament rejected a motion of confidence in the centre-right government, whose prime minister Luís Montenegro is embroiled in a controversy over a possible conflict of interest.

    Romania’s top court upheld a decision to ban presidential election frontrunner Călin Georgescu from standing in a rerun of the vote in May, sparking protest in Bucharest and leaving the country’s far right parties four days to find a candidate.

    Voters on the vast Arctic island of Greenland are going to the polls after a dramatic election campaign that the territory’s prime minister said had been “burdened by geopolitical tensions”.
    Russian and US officials could communicate with each other in the next few days, Russia’s foreign ministry said.“We do not rule out contacts with US representatives within the next few days,” foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told Russian state news agency Tass.A Ukrainian presidential official has confirmed that the US has resumed military assistance to Ukraine following talks in Saudi Arabia.Palvo Palisa, deputy head of the presidential office, said:
    I have confirmation that US military assistance has been resumed. The agreements are being implemented.
    French president Emmanuel Macron has also welcomed the news that Ukraine said it was ready to accept an immediate 30-day ceasefire in the war with Russia.“The ball is now clearly in Russia’s court,” Macron said in a statement on X.
    France and its partners remain committed to a solid and lasting peace, backed by robust security guarantees for Ukraine.
    Suddenly the ball is in Russia’s court. The flow of US intelligence and military aid to Ukraine is to resume – and the Kremlin is being asked to agree to a 30-day ceasefire that Kyiv has already told the Americans it will sign up to.It is a dizzying turnaround from the Oval Office row between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump and the apparent abandonment of the White House’s strategy to simply pressurise Ukraine into agreeing to a peace deal. Now, for the first time, Russia is being asked to make a commitment, though it is unclear what will follow if it does sign up.Announcing the peace proposal in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, said that he hoped Russia would accept a peace agreement “so we can get to the second phase of this, which is real negotiations”.That may leave plenty of room for interpretation. Russia has also been pushing for a ceasefire, though the Kremlin had wanted that to be followed by elections in Ukraine, before any full negotiation about territory and Kyiv’s future security.Ukraine, meanwhile, will want strong security guarantees to avoid a resumption of the war, involving European peacekeepers on the ground, which Russia has so far said it is against. An open question, perhaps, is whether peacekeepers could enter Ukraine during a ceasefire period, but this is speculative.Read the full analysis: Dizzying turnaround in US-Ukraine relations leaves all eyes on RussiaUkrainian foreign minister Andrii Sybiha has described his meeting with senior US officials in Saudi Arabia today as a “serious step forward”.Posting to X, Sybiha‎ said the meeting was a step forward for the “path to peace” and the strategic Ukraine-US partnership, adding:
    This is what a frank, open, and constructive dialogue brings.
    He thanked his US counterpart, secretary of state Marco Rubio, US national security adviser Mike Waltz and “our Saudi friends”.US president Donald Trump said he hopes Russia will agree to a ceasefire plan drawn up by US and Ukrainian officials in Saudi Arabia.Trump, speaking to reporters on Tuesday, said he would invite Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy back to the White House.He said he hopes the proposal can be solidified “over the next few days”, adding:
    I know we have a big meeting with Russia tomorrow, and some great conversations hopefully will ensue.
    He said he will speak to Russian leader Vladimir Putin about the ceasefire proposal this week. “It takes two to tango, as they say.”The UK prime minister Keir Starmer said he “warmly” welcomes the agreement between Ukrainian and US officials after talks in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday.A statement from Starmer reads:
    I warmly welcome the agreement today in Jeddah and congratulate President Trump and President Zelenskyy for this remarkable breakthrough.This is an important moment for peace in Ukraine and we now all need to redouble our efforts to get to a lasting and secure peace as soon as possible. As both American and Ukrainian delegations have said, the ball is now in the Russian court. Russia must now agree to a ceasefire and an end to the fighting too.

    H added that he will be convening virtual meeting of countries ready to support a ceasefire on Saturday “to discuss next steps”, adding:We are ready to help bring an end to this war in a just and permanent way that allows Ukraine to enjoy its freedom.
    European Council president António Costa and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen have issued a joint statement welcoming the news from Jeddah on the US-Ukraine talks.“This is a positive development that can be a step towards a comprehensive, just and lasting peace for Ukraine,” they said.“The ball is now in Russia’s court.
    The EU is ready to play its full part, together with its partners, in the upcoming peace negotiations.
    Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk said Europe “stands ready to help reach a just and lasting peace” after the joint US-Ukraine announcement that Kyiv is ready to accept an immediate 30-day ceasefire with Russia.Posting to X, Tusk wrote:
    It seems like the Americans and Ukrainians have taken an important step towards peace. And Europe stands ready to help reach a just and lasting peace.
    We reported earlier that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Kyiv is ready to accept as US proposal for a “30-day full interim ceasefire”.Zelenskyy said he received a report from the Ukrainian delegation on the meeting with US officials in Saudi Arabia.“ The discussion lasted most of the day and was good and constructive,” he said. “Our teams were able to discuss many important details.”Here’s Zelenskyy’s full video statement, posted to X: More

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    Archaeologists Unearth Oldest Jewish Ritual Bath Found in Europe

    Discovered outside Rome, the bath, which is thought to be a mikvah, could be more than 1,600 years old. When Luigi Maria Caliò, a classical archaeology professor, first brought students from the University of Catania to excavate an area of Ostia Antica, the ancient commercial port of call outside Rome, he wasn’t sure what he might find.The dig site had not been explored in modern times, despite its central location next to a square that was once the city’s headquarters for shippers and traders and is today renowned for its mosaics.“We thought we’d find some warehouses or a fluvial port,” he said. Instead, the archaeologists — budding and not — last summer uncovered what may be the oldest existing example in the ancient Roman world of a mikvah, a Jewish ritual bath. They have tentatively dated the structure to the late fourth or early fifth century.“Such an antique mikvah has never been found” outside Israel, “so it’s a very relevant find,” said Riccardo Di Segni, Rome’s chief rabbi. He added that the discovery contributed to further illuminating the rich history of Jews in Rome and Ostia Antica.Jews first came to Rome in the second century B.C., and inhabited the city and its environs, including Ostia, a half-hour train ride outside the capital city.Rome and Ostia to this day are pockmarked with remnants of Jewish heritage: a menorah on the bas-relief of the first-century Arch of Titus; Jewish catacombs; sundry Roman-era inscriptions, and a synagogue at Ostia Antica.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Taoiseach must tread carefully amid tensions before Trump meeting

    St Patrick’s Day has long been one of the sacred moments of the Irish-American calendar with more than 200 years of parades in New York and a shamrock reception at the White House launched by Dwight Eisenhower in 1953 to cement political ties between the two nations.But this year’s annual meeting between the taoiseach and the US president, a week early because of a congressional recess on 17 March, is laden with anxiety over the future of Ireland’s economy, which is heavily reliant on US multinationals Donald Trump wants to repatriate.While nobody expects Micheál Martin to be subjected to the same humiliating attack as Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the US president’s unpredictability and thin skin means Ireland’s taoiseach should be prepared for anything on Wednesday.Adding to the tensions was the recent public contradiction by the Irish foreign minister, Simon Harris of an account of a phone call he had with the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, whose representatives had said Ireland’s “trade imbalance” had been raised as a priority during the conversation.Harris told reporters: “The trade imbalance wasn’t specifically referenced. I was on the call. I was on it for over 20 minutes. It was a very good conversation.” Some saw it as an untimely poking of the beast.Martin is going to DC with three missions: protecting the Irish economy from Trump’s tariffs, raising the plight of the Palestinians, who have strong public support in Ireland, and pressing home the EU’s request that the US sticks with Europe for another few years to give it the time to build up an independent defence capacity.The Irish prime minister is afforded a full day of events in an unusually long agenda – adding to the risk of being tripped up.Martin will start with a traditional breakfast meeting with the vice-president, JD Vance, before a “stakeout” or questions from the media stationed outside the White House.At about 10am, he will move to the Oval Office to sit down in front of the cameras with Trump before the pair disappear from public view behind closed doors for the bilateral meeting.The delegation will then participate in the House speaker’s lunch, an event usually also attended by the president with other meetings before they all convene again for the Shamrock Bowl reception in the East Room, again hosted by Trump, at about 5pm.“The real risk moment is the media spray,” said one source close to the Irish government, referring to the on-camera press event in the Oval Office before Martin’s private meeting with Trump. In the past this has just been a 15-20 minute session with cameras but Trump has got into the habit of turning it into an unscheduled press conference.As Zelenskyy found recently, this can result in hostile questions or tension between the guest and his host – in Martin’s case, potentially on Palestine or trade.The US commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, has already complained that it was a nonsense that Ireland “of all places” is running a trade surplus with the world’s biggest economy.Last year Ireland exported €72bn to the US – a 34% increase on 2023 – compared with imports valued at €22bn.The US may also raise EU regulation of the big tech firms such as X, Google, Facebook, Instagram, all of which have their EU headquarters in Dublin.Writing in the Irish Times, historian Eoin Drea was withering about Ireland’s reliance on the US.“No other country in the EU is as hopelessly and naively dependent on the US as Ireland,” he said, warning that at “a stroke of pen” Trump could precipitate a budgetary crisis in Dublin.“Ireland is woefully unprepared for Washington’s new political mantra”, he added.One senior business source concurred: “There is obviously intense diplomacy going on. Brexit shows that we know as a country how to read a risk but this time we have been caught offside.”The source added that the fallout from last year’s European court ruling forcing Apple to pay up €13bn in back taxes was a case in point.“We were embarrassed by it. We didn’t want the money. For years nobody really cared about Americans in Ireland, but now the whole world is paying attention. It means that our trade has now got bound up with politics,” said the business source.They were also scathing about a new taskforce set up by Harris to head off ill winds with the inaugural meeting with business representatives two weeks ago.“It was headless chickens. After about an hour and three-quarters of talking what were we left with? Minutes and a diary line for the next meeting, which is not until May. It was fairly perfunctory.”Former Irish ambassador to the US Daniel Mulhall said he hoped Martin would emerge unscathed from the day-long Trump experience.“You have to remember Trump likes to like people and he likes to be liked. He’s even managed to convince himself that Putin likes him so it’s not a big stretch to conclude that maybe he likes Micheál too,” he said.“But my view is that there is a long established St Patrick’s Day [tradition of] visits by the taoiseach and they carry a certain kind of tone and content. This gives me hope.”Mulhall suggested an invitation to host a special EU-US summit at Trump’s Irish golf resort in Doonbeg in County Clare combining flattery and business.This however is not in Ireland’s gift – such an invitation would have to come from European Council president, António Costa. More

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    The Guardian view on Ursula von der Leyen’s first 100 days: the steepest of learning curves | Editorial

    In a press conference on Sunday to mark 100 days since the beginning of her second term as European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen erred on the side of understatement when asked whether she still considered the US to be an ally. The answer was yes, she replied, before adding that “we have our discussion points without question”.Hard to argue with that. Regarding the war in Ukraine, international trade and existential questions concerning the future of European defence and security, the geopolitical landscape bears no resemblance to the one that Ms von der Leyen looked out upon on 1 December. As Mr Trump and his “America first” outriders have confounded cherished assumptions about the transatlantic alliance, they have also sought to encourage authoritarian nationalism in EU member states.In France and Germany, the fabled engine of European integration, this has been uncomfortably akin to knocking at an open door. In Paris, days after Ms von der Leyen reassumed office, Michel Barnier’s shortlived government collapsed when Marine Le Pen pulled the rug from under it. In Germany, well before Elon Musk and JD Vance championed its cause, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party had reached historically high levels of support that would see it finish comfortably second in February’s snap German election.As Ms von der Leyen put it on Sunday: “Our European values, democracy, freedom, the rule of law are under threat.” The response, from Brussels and in national capitals, needs to be both robust and more expeditious than is often the case in the labyrinthine world of EU policymaking. Happily, the initial signs are positive.The move last week by EU leaders to disapply the bloc’s fiscal rules to military spending, potentially freeing up £670bn, is a significant step towards achieving greater strategic autonomy from Washington. It followed the unveiling of extraordinarily radical proposals in the same week by Germany’s chancellor-in-waiting, Friedrich Merz. Bypassing a constitutional restriction on state borrowing, these are designed to facilitate not only far greater spending on defence, but also on the modernisation of a stagnating economy.After decades in which EU economic policy has been skewed by Berlin’s traditional debt aversion – shared with other “frugal” member states such as the Netherlands and Denmark – this is a very different direction of travel. As Europe exits an era defined by an uncritical commitment to free trade and dependency on the US security umbrella, it is also the right one. Recognising the desire of many member states to formalise common borrowing arrangements introduced following Covid, Ms von der Leyen said “nothing is off the table” in relation to defence. But, as the Draghi report argued last autumn, the same kind of fiscal firepower is required to meet the challenge of the green transition and compete with the US and China for the jobs and future industries of the 21st century.Last month in Brussels, a different kind of centenary was marked when a bust of a former commission president, Jacques Delors, was unveiled. Born in 1925, Mr Delors became the preeminent champion of a “social” vision, in which common EU institutions would deploy pooled resources in order to build a Europe where solidarity and growth were intertwined. That perspective faded from view following the neoliberal turn in the 1980s. As Ms von der Leyen navigates the rest of her five-year term, its time has come again.

    Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. More

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    Romania Bars Ultranationalist Candidate From Presidential Race

    The country’s electoral commission ruled on Sunday that Calin Georgescu, an outspoken critic of Ukraine and NATO, could not compete in the do-over election.Calin Georgescu, an ultranationalist candidate who won the first round of Romania’s abruptly aborted presidential election last year, has been barred from competing in a do-over vote scheduled for May, sparking a small but violent protest by his supporters in Bucharest, the Romanian capital.The Central Electoral Bureau issued a statement late Sunday saying that it had ruled against registering the candidacy of Mr. Georgescu, an outspoken critic of Ukraine and NATO who has voiced sympathy for Russia and Romania’s fascist leadership during World War II. The bureau also said it had rejected three other would-be candidates.It gave no explanation for the decision, which came less than two weeks after Romanian prosecutors opened a criminal case against Mr. Georgescu for “incitement to actions against the constitutional order,” the “communication of false information” and involvement in the establishment of an organization “with a fascist, racist or xenophobic character.”Several hundred angry protesters gathered Sunday evening outside the election bureau in Bucharest, screaming “thieves” and “traitors,” and hurling stones and firecrackers at police officers, who responded with volleys of tear gas.The protest was far smaller than previous street demonstrations by Mr. Georgescu’s supporters but it raised political tensions and fears of violence ahead of the country’s second attempt at a presidential election. The crowd later dispersed.The Romanian president has limited powers but has often played an important role in the foreign policy of the NATO-member country, which borders Ukraine and has a large air base near the Black Sea that is used by the U.S. military.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    ‘They brought it on themselves’: a new low in US-Ukraine relations

    There was an audible gasp in the room at the Council on Foreign Relations as Keith Kellogg, the White House’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, characterised the US decision to cut off intelligence sharing and military aid to Kyiv as like beating a farm animal with a piece of wood.“Very candidly, they brought it on themselves, the Ukrainians,” Kellogg said as the veteran diplomats, academics, and journalists in the room recoiled in surprise. Several held their hands in their faces. “I think the best way I can describe it is sort of like hitting a mule with a two-by-four across the nose,” he continued. “You got their attention, and it’s very significant, obviously, because of the support that we give.”The collapse in US-Ukraine relations since the White House summit between Trump and Zelenskyy has been precipitous. Those around Trump viewed as the strongest supporters of Ukraine – including secretary of state Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz, and Kellogg – have become vocal sceptics of continued US support or been sidelined entirely.“We know that [the Maga wing] are just waiting for something they can use to pounce,” said a former senior US diplomat. “And I think that’s where you get the posturing by Rubio, Kellogg and also Waltz, which disturbs people who understand America’s interest in preventing a Putin win in Ukraine.”It has been matched by a rise in the people around Trump who hold vocally Eurosceptic views: Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson, and JD Vance, the vice-president who seized his moment in the Oval Office and provoked a greater conflict between Trump and Zelenskyy.Vance has made several key interventions meant to sow divisions with Europe. He appears to have planned ahead of time. His team briefed European media before he spoke up during Trump’s meeting with Keir Starmer to complain about “infringements on free speech” in the UK. And when Zelenskyy disregarded advice from Kellogg, Republican senators, and others, not to clash with Trump during the White House meeting, Vance once again poured petrol on the fire.“First Zelenskyy needs to keep silent in public about concerns with Trump’s policy moves, even though those concerns are justified,” the former senior official said. “It would be good for him to send a team to the meeting in Riyadh which is not at his level. I think he needs to sign the mineral agreement in any form that the Trump administration wants.”Fiona Hill, a former White House official during Trump’s first term, said the speculation on the part of many European officials was that “this was set up by Vance … that he wanted to sideline the Rubios, the Waltzes, the Kelloggs.”These were supposed to be the adults in the room for this administration. Rubio was confirmed 99-0 by senators who believed he would help keep Trump’s foreign policy on track. Waltz was expected to be a centrist ally as national security adviser. And Kellogg, while sceptical of piecemeal support for Kyiv, was seen as a firm supporter of Ukraine.View image in fullscreenInstead, they have followed Trump into putting pressure on Ukraine. Rubio last week said: “Frankly, it’s a proxy war between nuclear powers – the United States, helping Ukraine, and Russia – and it needs to come to an end.”That was a vision closely aligned with the Kremlin’s. Dmitry Peskov reacted positively to Rubio’s words, saying: “We can and want to agree with it, and we agree with it. That’s the way it is. We have said this repeatedly. We have said that this is actually a conflict between Russia and the collective west. And the main country of the collective west is the United States of America.”That’s not the only way in which the US is adopting Russia’s views on the war. In his speech, Kellogg broke ground in describing how Trump sees the conflict: the US wants to position itself as a neutral arbiter between Russia and Ukraine, and Trump recognises that the US needs to “reset relations with Russia” to secure US national security. “The continued isolation and lack of engagement with the Russians as the war in Ukraine continues is no longer a viable strategy,” he said.That portrayal is a radical realignment of US policy interests in the conflict. For three years, Washington has provided considerable financial and military support to Kyiv to allow it to stay in the fight. But under a new Trump administration, those who supported the previous policy have quickly pivoted to back Trump as he seeks to end the war by putting pressure on Ukraine.“Kellogg has some people around him who do know what they’re doing,” said Hill, who worked with him during the first Trump term. “He’s 80 years old. He fought in Vietnam. He knows his stuff. He’s no fan of Russia. He’s a total cold warrior. He’s trying to thread the needle there but he also works for the commander in chief, so he’s trying to interpret, in the best way that he can, what’s going on here? And he will not stray away from what Trump does or says, that’s why he is still there.”Yet Kellogg was left off the list for a key summit between Ukrainian and US officials this week in Saudi Arabia in an attempt to repair the relationship. Waltz, Rubio, and Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff are set to travel for talks with Zelenskyy’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak and his team. The path forward is unclear – although both pro-Ukraine Americans and European officials believe that there is no alternative to US support in the conflict.European officials are hopeful that Zelenskyy and the Trump officials can manage to hold a meeting that won’t erupt into open conflict. That may lead to a quick renewal of intelligence support, which European officials have not lost hope for.But there are broader discussions about whether or not the US remains a viable longterm partner for the Ukraine. For now, the Ukrainian side has few options except to make amends. More