diff --git a/src/mono/wasm/Wasm.Build.Tests/Blazor/NativeRefTests.cs b/src/mono/wasm/Wasm.Build.Tests/Blazor/NativeRefTests.cs
index 645aab3ac0eb85..fac71883e3f2ae 100644
--- a/src/mono/wasm/Wasm.Build.Tests/Blazor/NativeRefTests.cs
+++ b/src/mono/wasm/Wasm.Build.Tests/Blazor/NativeRefTests.cs
@@ -62,35 +62,16 @@ public void WithNativeReference_AOTOnCommandLine(string config)
     }
 
     [Theory]
-    [InlineData("Debug")]
     [InlineData("Release")]
-    public void BlazorWasm_CanRunMonoAOTCross_WithNoTrimming(string config)
+    public void BlazorWasm_CannotAOT_WithNoTrimming(string config)
     {
         string id = $"blazorwasm_{config}_aot_{GetRandomId()}";
         CreateBlazorWasmTemplateProject(id);
-
-        // We don't want to emcc compile, and link ~180 assemblies!
-        // So, stop once `mono-aot-cross` part of the build is done
-        string target = @"<Target Name=""StopAfterWasmAOT"" AfterTargets=""_WasmAotCompileApp"">
-            <Error Text=""Stopping after AOT"" Condition=""'$(WasmBuildingForNestedPublish)' == 'true'"" />
-        </Target>
-        ";
         AddItemsPropertiesToProject(Path.Combine(_projectDir!, $"{id}.csproj"),
                                     extraItems: null,
-                                    extraProperties: null,
-                                    atTheEnd: target);
-
-        string publishLogPath = Path.Combine(s_buildEnv.LogRootPath, id, $"{id}.binlog");
-        CommandResult res = new DotNetCommand(s_buildEnv, _testOutput)
-                                    .WithWorkingDirectory(_projectDir!)
-                                    .WithEnvironmentVariable("NUGET_PACKAGES", _nugetPackagesDir)
-                                    .ExecuteWithCapturedOutput("publish",
-                                                               $"-bl:{publishLogPath}",
-                                                               "-p:RunAOTCompilation=true",
-                                                               "-p:PublishTrimmed=false",
-                                                               $"-p:Configuration={config}");
+                                    extraProperties: "<PublishTrimmed>false</PublishTrimmed><RunAOTCompilation>true</RunAOTCompilation>");
 
-        Assert.True(res.ExitCode != 0, "Expected publish to fail");
-        Assert.Contains("Stopping after AOT", res.Output);
+        (CommandResult res, _) = BlazorPublish(new BlazorBuildOptions(id, config, ExpectSuccess: false));
+        Assert.Contains("AOT is not supported without IL trimming", res.Output);
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/mono/wasm/Wasm.Build.Tests/NativeBuildTests.cs b/src/mono/wasm/Wasm.Build.Tests/NativeBuildTests.cs
index 0ea7aaf7bfa8f2..ef3ed921a70037 100644
--- a/src/mono/wasm/Wasm.Build.Tests/NativeBuildTests.cs
+++ b/src/mono/wasm/Wasm.Build.Tests/NativeBuildTests.cs
@@ -41,17 +41,12 @@ public void SimpleNativeBuild(BuildArgs buildArgs, RunHost host, string id)
 
         [Theory]
         [BuildAndRun(aot: true, host: RunHost.None)]
-        public void MonoAOTCross_WorksWithNoTrimming(BuildArgs buildArgs, string id)
+        public void AOTNotSupportedWithNoTrimming(BuildArgs buildArgs, string id)
         {
-            // stop once `mono-aot-cross` part of the build is done
-            string target = @"<Target Name=""StopAfterWasmAOT"" AfterTargets=""_WasmAotCompileApp"">
-                <Error Text=""Stopping after AOT"" Condition=""'$(WasmBuildingForNestedPublish)' == 'true'"" />
-            </Target>";
-
             string projectName = $"mono_aot_cross_{buildArgs.Config}_{buildArgs.AOT}";
 
-            buildArgs = buildArgs with { ProjectName = projectName, ExtraBuildArgs = "-p:PublishTrimmed=false -v:n" };
-            buildArgs = ExpandBuildArgs(buildArgs, extraProperties: "<WasmBuildNative>true</WasmBuildNative>", insertAtEnd: target);
+            buildArgs = buildArgs with { ProjectName = projectName, ExtraBuildArgs = "-p:PublishTrimmed=false" };
+            buildArgs = ExpandBuildArgs(buildArgs);
 
             (_, string output) = BuildProject(
                                     buildArgs,
@@ -61,7 +56,7 @@ public void MonoAOTCross_WorksWithNoTrimming(BuildArgs buildArgs, string id)
                                         DotnetWasmFromRuntimePack: false,
                                         ExpectSuccess: false));
 
-            Assert.Contains("Stopping after AOT", output);
+            Assert.Contains("AOT is not supported without IL trimming", output);
         }
 
         [Theory]
diff --git a/src/mono/wasm/build/WasmApp.Native.targets b/src/mono/wasm/build/WasmApp.Native.targets
index d9595b16c2eb42..43428034a93c1e 100644
--- a/src/mono/wasm/build/WasmApp.Native.targets
+++ b/src/mono/wasm/build/WasmApp.Native.targets
@@ -619,6 +619,8 @@
       <_MonoAotCrossCompilerPath>@(MonoAotCrossCompiler->WithMetadataValue('RuntimeIdentifier','browser-wasm'))</_MonoAotCrossCompilerPath>
     </PropertyGroup>
 
+    <Error Condition="'$(RunAOTCompilation)' == 'true' and '$(PublishTrimmed)' != 'true'"
+           Text="AOT is not supported without IL trimming (PublishTrimmed=true required)." />
     <Error Condition="'@(_WasmAssembliesInternal)' == ''" Text="Item _WasmAssembliesInternal is empty" />
     <Error Condition="'$(_IsEMSDKMissing)' == 'true'"
            Text="$(_EMSDKMissingErrorMessage) Emscripten SDK is required for AOT'ing assemblies." />