Ukraine agrees to Trump deal on rare earths exploitation

WashingtonUkraine has accepted the deal put forward by the Trump administration on the war-torn country's rare earths, the ministry said on Monday. Financial Times and have also informed Ukrainian media. In recent days, Washington and Kiev have held talks to reach an agreement so that the United States can exploit Ukraine's natural resources. Until now, President Volodymyr Zelensky had been reluctant because the draft did not include a US commitment to guarantee Ukraine's security in the event of a new Russian aggression.

Now Kiev would be willing to sign the joint agreement with the US to exploit its resources, including rare earths, oil and gas, according to the British newspaper. Initially, Washington claimed to receive 500 billion dollars in potential income from the exploitation of these resources, in exchange for maintaining aid in Kiev. According to the newspaper, Financial Times, this demand has finally been withdrawn in order to get the green light from the Ukrainian government. Still, according to the publication Ukrainian Pravda, the document that Kiev has accepted does not include any written commitment from the US to continue military support in Ukraine in exchange for the benefits provided for in the agreement.

In parallel, on Monday night, Russian President Vladimir Putin offered Trump to sell rare earths from Russia to American companies, including those in occupied Ukrainian territories. In this regard, Trump said on Tuesday from the Oval Office that "I would also like to buy minerals from Russian lands. They also have very good rare earths and oil and gas." The rapprochement with Moscow is such that the president has also announced a "gold card" program, a kind of visa to enter the US that he intends to sell for a value of five million dollars, and has stated that Russian oligarchs could be eligible for this type of permit.

Trump already announced on Monday that Zelensky was expected to travel "this week or next" The deal is expected to be approved by the Ukrainian government on Wednesday, Bloomberg reports. Reuters reports that Zelensky plans to travel to Washington on Friday to meet Trump. "I heard he'll come on Friday. Of course, it's fine with me if he wants to do it and sign (the deal) with me," the US president told reporters on Tuesday evening.

The day before, on Thursday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is also expected to go to the White House to speak with the US president and to reiterate the need for Europe to have a seat at the negotiating table. French President Emmanuel Macron already travelled to Washington on Monday for the same purpose.

Escalation of tensions

The announcement by the US president about the future signing of the exploitation agreement came amid escalating verbal tensions with his Ukrainian counterpart. Trump accused Zelensky of being a "dictator" and threatened him with "being left without a country" after the Ukrainian rebelled against the exclusion of Kiev from the negotiating table between Washington and Moscow. Shortly afterwards he again said that he did not see the presence of Zelensky in the bilateral negotiations with the Kremlin as "necessary" because he has no "cards" to play. Macron stressed on Monday to Trump that "peace should not mean a surrender of Ukraine", although he was in agreement with the Republican's campaign to achieve the agreement on Ukrainian rare earths.

Macron asked Trump that there could not be "a ceasefire without guarantees", but for the moment Washington will be able to exploit Ukraine's resources without any signed commitment to continue military support for Kiev. The Frenchman promised that Europe would have a more active role in defence, including the sending of European peacekeeping troops, trusting that Washington will maintain its support for European partners. The fact that Trump has reached the agreement without having to put security guarantees for Ukraine in writing is not a good sign given the trust placed in the tycoon.

Macron's announcement to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine was based on the statement made by Trump during the meeting, where he assured that Russia will not oppose the presence of European soldiers once peace has been signed. This Tuesday Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has denied this.. Even so, Trump has insisted again on Tuesday on the need for the presence of "some kind of peacekeeping troops" in Ukraine once the war is over. Regarding Moscow's denial, Trump assured that "that is not what they told me" and assured that "something will be done that is satisfactory for everyone."

The role of main ally, in question

During the three years of war, the United States has been Ukraine's main economic and military ally – although if the European Union is considered as a bloc, assistance has been higher, As several European leaders have pointed out in recent days– Now Trump is reversing that position as he moves closer to Russian President Vladimir Putin. So far the US has been making constant concessions to Russia: denying Ukraine's NATO aspirations, saying it doesn't believe it's possible to restore pre-2014 borders, and demanding elections in Ukraine (an idea long promoted by the Kremlin).

Trump said on Tuesday that in exchange for the rare earths deal, Ukraine gets the aid already provided by Washington (the more than $300 billion falsely quoted to Trump and estimated by the Kiel Institute for the World Economy to be actually around $120 billion). The glimmer of hope for Zelensky is that Trump has told reporters that US aid could continue until a deal is reached with Russia: "It could continue for a while, it may be until we get a deal with Russia."

Even though Kiev has not obtained a written commitment to US military support, the rare earths agreement could serve as an argument for Trump to continue approving additional aid packages for Ukraine while negotiations with Russia continue. Until now, the tycoon has been the main person responsible for boycotting military and economic aid packages for Ukraine and arguing that they should stop being sent.

Ukraine is a real "treasure trove" when it comes to critical minerals such as lithium. Before the Russian invasion broke out in 2022, during a meeting of the UN Economic Commission for Europe (EEC), it was noted that approximately 5% of all "critical raw materials" in the world were in Ukraine. In fact, Trump himself had the country on the map long before the war began. In the midst of the technological race and the trade war with China, the minerals that Ukraine has are extremely valuable to the American president. Especially after Beijing last year banned the export to the United States of key minerals for the production of chips and semiconductors.