President Donald Trump on Monday directed a “pause” to U.S. assistance to Ukraine as he seeks to pressure Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to engage in negotiations to end the war with Russia.
The move comes just days after a disastrous Oval Office meeting in which Trump and Vice President JD Vance tore into Zelenskyy for what they perceived as insufficient gratitude for the more than $180 billion in military aid the U.S. has sent to Kyiv since Russia invaded three years ago.
A White House official said Trump is focused on reaching a peace deal and wants Zelenskyy “committed” to that goal. The official added that the U.S. was “pausing and reviewing” its aid to “ensure that it is contributing to a solution.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the assistance.
The order will remain in effect until Trump determines that Ukraine has demonstrated a commitment to peace negotiations with Russia, the official said.
The halting of military aid comes some five years after Trump held up congressionally authorized assistance to Ukraine as he sought to pressure Zelenskyy to launch an investigation into Joe Biden, then a Democratic presidential candidate. The moment led to Trump’s first impeachment.
In the leadup to the 2024 election, Trump vowed a quick end to the war in Ukraine, even once boasting that he could bring a halt to the fighting in one day. He has shown increasing frustration with Zelenskyy over the war while simultaneously expressing confidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he has long admired, can be trusted to keep the peace if a truce is reached.
Trump earlier on Monday slammed Zelenskyy for suggesting that the end of the war likely “is still very, very far away.” Zelenskyy had suggested it would take time to come to an agreement to end the war as he tried to offer a positive take on the U.S.-Ukraine relationship in the aftermath of last week’s White House meeting.
“This is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put up with it for much longer!” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform, responding to comments Zelenskyy made late Sunday to reporters.
Trump, at a White House event later Monday, referred to Zelenskyy’s reported comments and asserted the Ukrainian leader “better not be right about that.”
Zelenskyy later took to social media to further explain his thinking. He did not directly refer to Trump’s comments, but underscored that it “is very important that we try to make our diplomacy really substantive to end this war the soonest possible.”
“We need real peace and Ukrainians want it most because the war ruins our cities and towns,” Zelenskyy added. “We lose our people. We need to stop the war and guarantee security.”
Trump administration and Ukrainian officials had been expected to sign off on a deal during Zelenskyy’s visit last week that would have given the U.S. access to Ukraine’s critical minerals in part to pay back the U.S. for aid it has sent Kyiv since the start of the war. The White House had billed such a pact as a way to tighten U.S.-Ukrainian relations in the long term.
Vance, in an interview with Fox News’s Sean Hannity that aired Monday evening, said European allies were doing Ukraine a disservice by not pressing Zelenskyy to find an endgame to the war.
“A lot of our European friends puff him up,” Vance said. “They say, you know, you’re a freedom fighter. You need to keep fighting forever. Well, fighting forever with what? With whose money, with whose ammunition, and with whose lives?”
Democrats said the pausing of aid to Ukraine was dangerous and ill-advised.
Democratic Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, who is co-chair of the Congressional EU Caucus, said the decision “is reckless, indefensible, and a direct threat to our national security.”
The Biden administration provided Kyiv with more than $66.5 billion in military aid and weapons since the war began. It had left unspent about $3.85 billion in congressionally authorized funding to send more weapons to Ukraine from existing U.S. stockpiles — a sum that had not been affected by the foreign aid freeze that Trump put in place when he first took office.
“This aid was approved by Congress on a bipartisan basis — Republicans and Democrats alike recognized that standing with Ukraine is standing for democracy and against Putin’s aggression,” Boyle said in a statement. “Yet, Trump, who has repeatedly praised Putin and undermined our allies, is now playing political games with critical military assistance.”
Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman, who served as counsel to House Democrats in the first impeachment inquiry against Trump, said the pausing of aid was “another extortion” of Zelenskyy.
“This is the exact opposite of peace through strength,” Goldman said. “Instead, what it is is it’s another extortion of President Zelenskyy, illegally withholding aid to get President Zelenskyy to agree to a minerals deal.”
Trump’s national security adviser said Zelenskyy’s posture during Friday’s Oval Office talks “put up in the air” whether he’s someone the U.S. administration will be able to deal with going forward.
“Is he ready, personally, politically, to move his country towards an end to the fighting?” Mike Waltz said Monday on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom.” “And can he and will he make the compromises necessary?”
Waltz added another layer of doubt about U.S. support as other high-profile Trump allies, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Sen. Lindsey Graham, have suggested that the relationship between Trump and Zelenskyy is becoming untenable.
Angela Stent, a former national intelligence officer for Russia and Eurasia at the National Intelligence Council, said Putin is likely in no rush to end the war amid the fissures between Trump and Zelenskyy and between Europe and the U.S. about the way ahead.
“He thinks Russia is winning. ... And he thinks that as time goes on, the West will be more fractured,” said Stent, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.
Trump on Monday suggested he hasn’t given up on the economic pact, calling it “a great deal.” He added that he expected to speak about the deal during his Tuesday address before a joint session of Congress.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Pennsylvania Republican who co-chairs the Congressional Ukraine Caucus, spoke with Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, earlier Monday about getting the mineral rights deal back on track.
Key GOP senators also indicated before the announcement of paused aid that they see a path to put U.S.-Ukraine relations back on track.
“We got to lower the temperature,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., “and get to a deal that’s economically beneficial and takes care of our interests as well as the interests of the Ukrainian people.”
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican who is a close ally of Trump, said he believes the president and Zelenskyy can “move past it.”
“Getting the minerals deal done is a first step,” Mullin said. After that, he said, Zelenskyy needs to be “realistic on what a peace deal looks like.”
Kroger Chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen has resigned after an internal investigation into his personal conduct.
Kroger, the nation’s largest grocery chain, said Monday that the investigation into McMullen’s personal conduct was unrelated to the business, but was found to be inconsistent with its business ethics policy.
Board member Ronald Sargent will serve as chairman and interim CEO, effective immediately.
Sargent has been on Kroger’s board since 2006 and has served as the lead director of the company since 2017. He’s worked in several roles at the grocery chain across stores, sales, marketing, manufacturing, and strategy. Sargent is also the former Chairman and CEO of Staples.
McMullen, 64, began his career with Kroger in 1978 as a part-time stock clerk and bagger at a store in Lexington, Kentucky. He worked his way up through the company, becoming chief financial officer in 1995 and chief operating officer in 2009. McMullen was named Kroger’s CEO in 2014 and became the company’s chairman the following year.
Cincinnati-based Kroger said its board was made aware of the situation on Feb. 21 and immediately hired an outside independent counsel to conduct an investigation, overseen by a special board committee.
The company said that McMullen’s conduct is not related to its financial performance, operations, or reporting, and did not involve any Kroger associates.
Kroger will conduct a search for its next CEO, with Sargent agreeing to remain as interim CEO until someone is appointed to the role permanently.
Kroger shares fell nearly 3% Monday.
McMullen’s departure comes as Kroger is regrouping from its failed effort to merge with Albertsons. The two companies proposed what would have been the largest supermarket merger in U.S. history in 2022, saying they needed to combine forces to better compete with rivals like Walmart.
But two judges halted the $24.6 billion deal in December, saying it was likely to lessen competition and raise prices. Albertsons later sued Kroger, saying it had failed to make every effort to ensure that the merger would win regulatory approval.
Also Monday, Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons said its CEO Vivek Sankaran plans to retire May 1. Susan Morris, Albertsons’ executive vice president and chief operations officer, will replace Sankaran, the company said.
President Donald Trump was poised to impose 25% taxes on imports from Canada and Mexico Tuesday and to double to 20% his levies on Chinese products. All three countries — America’s top trading partners — are threatening retaliation.
The United States last year did nearly $2.2 trillion in the trade of goods — exports plus imports — with the countries the president is targeting: $840 billion with Mexico, $762 billion with Canada, and $582 billion with China.
Trump has declared an economic emergency to justify the duties, marking the most aggressive use of tariffs by the United States since the 1930s. He claims that the sanctions are designed to reduce the flow of undocumented and illicit drugs across the U.S. border.
Energy imported from Canada, including oil, natural gas and electricity, will be taxed at a lower 10% rate — a concession to households in the U.S. Northeast and Midwest that depend on Canadian energy.
The following are just a few imported goods whose prices may be hit first:
A ‘grenade’ lobbed into auto production
For decades, auto companies have built supply chains that cross the borders of the United States, Mexico, and Canada. More than one in five of the cars and light trucks sold in the United States were built in Canada or Mexico, according to S&P Global Mobility. Last year, the United States imported $79 billion worth of cars and light trucks from Mexico – far more than any other country -- and $31 billion from Canada. Another $81 billion in auto parts came from Mexico and $19 billion from Canada. The engines in Ford F-series pickups and the iconic Mustang sports coupe, for instance, come from Canada.
“You have engines and car seats and other things that cross the border multiple times before going into a finished vehicle,’’ said Scott Lincicome, a trade analyst at the libertarian Cato Institute. “You have American parts going to Mexico to be put into vehicles that are then shipped back to the United States.
“You throw 25% tariffs into all that, and it’s just a grenade.’’
China is also a major supplier of auto parts to the U.S. — $18 billion worth last year.
S&P Global Mobility reckons that “importers are likely to pass most, if not all, of this (cost) increase to consumers.’’ TD Economics notes that average U.S. car prices could rise by around $3,000 – this at a time when the average new car already goes for nearly $49,000 and the average used car for $25,000, according to Kelley Blue Book.
Higher prices at the pump
Canada is by far America’s biggest foreign supplier of crude oil. In 2024, Canada shipped the U.S. $98 billion worth of crude, well ahead of No. 2 Mexico at $12 billion.
For many U.S. refineries, there’s not much choice. Canada produces the “type of crude oil that American refineries are geared to process,’’ Lincicome said. “It’s a heavier crude. All the fracking and all the oil and gas we make here in the United States – or most of it – is a lighter crude that a lot of American refineries don’t process, particularly in the Midwest.’’
Of the tariffs on Canadian oil imports, Lincicome said, “How the heck does that shake out? My guess is that it shakes out just through higher gas prices, particularly in the Midwest.’’
Computers, Clothes and Toys
Tariffs on China could impact a wide variety of consumer goods that Americans depend on. Cell phones, computers and other electronic devices were among the top imports from China last year, according to Commerce Department data.
The U.S. also imported more than $32 billion in “toys, games and sporting goods” from China last year, data shows.
And Americans import billions of dollars a year in clothing from China. That includes more than $7.9 billion in footwear last year, according to Commerce Department data.
Trouble in Margaritaville
Tariffs could raise the price for those raising a glass of tequila or Canadian whisky.
In 2023, the U.S. imported $4.6 billion worth of tequila and $108 million worth of mezcal from Mexico, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, a trade group. The U.S. imported $537 million worth of Canadian spirits, including $202.5 million worth of whisky.
Canada and Mexico were also the second-and third-largest importers of U.S. spirits in 2023, behind the European Union, the council said.
The council said the U.S. is already facing a potentially devastating 50% tariff on American whiskey by the European Union, which is set to begin in March. Imposing tariffs on Mexico and Canada could pile even more retaliatory action on the industry.
Chris Swonger, the council’s president and CEO, said he appreciates the goal of protecting U.S. jobs. But tequila and Canadian whisky – like Kentucky bourbon -- are designated as distinctive products that can only be made in their country of origin.
“At the end of the day, tariffs on spirits products from our neighbors to the north and south are going to hurt U.S. consumers and lead to job losses across the U.S. hospitality industry, just as these businesses continue their long recovery from the pandemic,” Swonger said.
Tariffs would hit Mexican avocados
For American consumers still exasperated by high grocery prices, a trade war with Canada, Mexico, and China could be painful. In 2024, the U.S. bought more than $49 billion in agricultural products from Mexico –- including 47% of imported vegetables and 40% of fruits. Farm imports from Canada came to $41 billion. A 25% tariff could push prices up.
“Grocery stores operate on really tiny margins,’’ Lincicome said. “They can’t eat the tariffs ... especially when you talk about things like avocados that basically all of them – 90% -- come from Mexico. You’re talking about guacamole tariffs.’'
U.S. farmers are nervous, too, that Canada and Mexico will retaliate by slapping tariffs on American products such as soybeans and corn. That’s what happened in the first Trump administration. China and other targets of Trump tariffs hit back by targeting the president’s supporters in rural America. Exports of soybeans and other farm products dropped, so Trump spent billions of U.S. taxpayer money to reimburse farmers for lost sales.
“President Trump was as good as his word,’’ said Mark McHargue, a Central City, Nebraska, farmer who grows corn, soybeans, popcorn and raises hogs. “It did take the sting out of it. That’s for sure.’’ But he would prefer to see the government push to open foreign markets to American farm exports. “We would rather get our money from the market,’’ said McHargue, president of the Nebraska Farm Bureau. “It doesn’t feel great to get a government check.’’
