The much-hyped minerals agreement between the U.S. and Ukraine is a bad idea and should be dropped. But although critics have tended to focus on the deal’s unseemliness and impracticalities, the real problem has to do with America’s own national security interests.
As it stands, the U.S. has only a limited interest in Ukraine’s long-term security. This is a basic function of geography and economics. The U.S. is more than 4,000 miles away from Ukraine, and in 2021—the last full year before Russia’s invasion—its firms held investments there totaling just $98 million.
To be sure, most Americans strongly prefer that Kyiv triumph over Russia. They abhor the war and blame Vladimir Putin for it. But the bottom line is that U.S. national security will probably not be jeopardized one way or the other by what happens in Ukraine.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio put it bluntly: “It’s not that we don’t care about Ukraine, but Ukraine is on another continent. It doesn’t directly impact the daily lives of Americans.”
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