U.S. President Donald Trump spoke when he signed an executive order from the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on February 14, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump’s hope of obtaining Ukrainian rare earth minerals hit the wall Saturday after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected the bid on citing it’s too focused on U.S. interests .
In the context of a broader agreement to end the war, the economic convention in recent days was in exchange for Washington’s support for war-torn countries, but Zelensky said the offer so far has not been made for his He provides any specific security assurance in the country.
“I didn’t let the minister sign the relevant agreement because I don’t think it’s ready to protect us, our interests.” Zelenskyy Tell The Associated Press was in Munich on Saturday. Reuters reported that the U.S. proposed to own 50% of Ukraine’s key minerals, citing three people familiar with the matter.
Despite this, officials at the Munich Security Conference said there is still a tasty agreement between the two parties.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said on Saturday that resolving conflicts and “nightmare” could be a “game-changer” person for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The mineral agreement between the United States and Ukraine is a game-changer because President Trump can turn to the American people and say Ukraine is not a burden, which is a benefit,” Graham said on Saturday.
He added: “If a mineral agreement occurs, it’s Putin’s nightmare because we have some defenses that we haven’t had before.”
Ukraine is home to a large number of precious minerals that are crucial to the manufacturing of high-tech products. Kyiv School of Economics estimates the country Custody deposit Of the 50 key raw materials, 20 include titanium, lithium and zirconium.
President Trump says he wants $500 billion of these minerals From Ukraine to help reduce U.S. dependence on China, but Zelenskyy said any exploitation needs to be linked to Ukraine’s security assurance.
Democratic Senator Chris Coons told CNBC on Saturday that the deal could be “positive” to both parties as long as security assurances are provided for Kiev.
“If this is an investment opportunity, American companies and other companies from Europe will be involved in mining and processing so that we can be independent of these strategic minerals’ Chinese sources – if he helps, his help deepens and strengthens our partners Relations to help ensure Ukraine’s safe progress…it will be a positive thing,” Kuhns said.
However, he added that some descriptions of the deal were “completely different from that.”
“Trade” foreign policy
Existing U.S. recommendations focus on the use of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals “as compensation for funds already provided by the Biden administration” and payments for future support, AP Report Current and former senior Ukrainian official said Saturday.
“The United States has become very clear that their foreign policy will be traded,” said Binaifer Nowrojee, president of the Open Society Foundation. She said that despite this, Ukraine is still a “good place for negotiations.”
Ukraine has long been seeking to develop its critical mineral industry, and a deal with the United States could provide the support needed for capital-intensive efforts in mineral extraction and processing.
Nataliia Shapoval, head of the KSE Institute, a think tank within the Keefe School of Economics, edited a database of key minerals in Ukraine, who agreed that if the negotiations were “good faith”, a deal was made to two All countries may be mutually beneficial.
“Ukraine wants to believe Trump wants to have a discussion with Putin. If the United States has more investors in Ukraine, there will be more grounds to protect Ukraine,” Shapoval told CNBC via video call on Thursday.
Nevertheless, she stressed that any agreement must contain more compensation and needs to be on par with the broader agreements of Russia to end the battle.
She added: “If Trump does not intend to use critical raw materials as part of the framework for negotiations with Russia, but just thinks we want to compensate it for help, it will be time for all involved.”
