On Monday, the Telegraph newspaper revealed details of a draft contract which US president Donald Trump is preparing to impose on the Ukrainian regime.
This contract, dated February 7th 2025 and marked ‘Privileged & Confidential’, sets out Trump’s plan for the US to take complete control of the Ukrainian economy including ‘mineral resources, oil and gas resources, ports, other infrastructure (as agreed)’.
As well as the US seizing complete control of the Ukrainian economy, Trump is also demanding the Zelensky regime pays back $500 billion in war reparations to the US for a war that US imperialism deliberately provoked.
According to Trump, the US has spent $300 billion on the war against Russia so far and that it would be ‘stupid’ to give the Ukraine any more.
Presumably the extra $200 billion being claimed is a fine on the Zelensky regime for being stupid enough to become US imperialism’s proxy war machine.
In fact, as the Telegraph article by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard points out, the US Congress has only agreed a total of $175 billion for Ukraine ‘of which $70 billion was spent in the US on weapons production’.
Demanding war reparations from a supposed ally is unheard of. War reparations are demanded by victorious nations from their defeated enemies, not from defeated allies who were held up as heroic defenders of western civilisation.
Apart from demanding payment with massive interest on US investment in the war, Trump now wants half the revenue from Ukraine’s mineral sales and half of the financial value of ‘all new licences issued to third parties’ for future mineral sales.
The agreement, which was drawn up by US corporate, not government, lawyers, states that it ‘shall be governed by New York law, without regard to conflict of laws principles.’
In other words, 50% of the entire Ukrainian wealth will be claimed by the US under terms dictated by Trump-appointed lawyers in New York.
The agreement also states there will be ‘a lien on such revenues’ in favour of the US.
A ‘lien’ is a legal clause that gives the creditor legal right to seize and sell collateral or property of a debtor who fails or is unable to repay the debt.
One American source close to the negotiations told the Telegraph: ‘That clause means “pay us first, and then feed your children”’!
At stake for US capitalism is the ability to seize control of the mineral wealth of Ukraine, its rare earth deposits (vital to hi-tech industry) along with uranium and other prized minerals.
Trump’s supposed ‘peace initiative’ turns out today to be nothing more than an attempt to colonise Ukraine by US capitalism which would have complete power over production and sales of the country’s wealth.
This proposed take-over completely sidelines the EU and UK governments leaving them with nothing to show from the billions handed out to the Zelensky regime to keep the war staggering on to inevitable defeat.
The US is driven to this attempt to openly dominate and exploit the world for profit by the historic crisis strangling capitalism.
The US is the most indebted country in the world, with a national debt approaching $36.5 trillion requiring interest repayments at well over $1 trillion a year.
In short, the biggest capitalist economy in the world is bankrupt and desperate for money.
This desperation is driving Trump’s savage slashing of federal services in the US and his tariff war on the world designed to raise money through import duties.
In this crisis the only way out for US capitalism is to make the working class of the world pay for the profits of a bankrupt capitalist class through class war at home and wars abroad to ensure domination and exploitation.
‘Pay us first and then feed your children’ is not just the future capitalism holds for Ukrainian workers but for the working class and people of the world.
The way forward is for the working class internationally to join together to take power and put an end to capitalist crisis with socialist revolution.
This requires rapidly building sections of the International Committee of the Fourth International in every country to provide the leadership to organise the victory of the world socialist revolution.
