The Texas Republican wouldn’t commit to voting for aid for the country fending off Russian President Vladimir Putin’s army — or say whether there would need to be a financial offset to get his support — but argued that neither this nor conservative calls for military exercises are the right approach.
Instead, Cruz argued for immediately passing a new free trade treaty with Ukraine and “looking at existing treaties between the United States and Russia, and considering abrogating those treaties.”
“More important than aid is expanding economic trade — expanding mutually beneficial commerce, helping open the door for energy to flow to Ukraine in the private market,” Cruz said, speaking exclusively to POLITICO after addressing AIPAC’s Texas delegation Tuesday afternoon.
He said Russia should be kicked out of the G-8, but that the United States shouldnÂ’t wait on its allies for further action. That includes, Cruz said, re-initiating plans to move forward with the missile defense system in Europe, which Obama scaled back while in earlier discussions with Russia.
The crisis in Ukraine, he said, proves that his vision of Republican foreign policy is the right one, for both the GOP and the country — and is “very much the same as Ronald Reagan’s,” invoking the former president, as he often does.
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Ted Cruz?s Ukraine plan: Have the market handle it - Edward-Isaac Dovere - POLITICO.com