
President Donald Trump said he would soon sign a natural-resources deal with Ukraine that would give the US partial control over revenue from future resource extraction.
“One of the things we are doing is signing a deal very shortly with respect to rare earths with Ukraine,” Trump said Thursday during an education event at the White House.
The agreement fell apart late last month after a tense Oval Office meeting between Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Under that deal, Ukraine would contribute half of all revenues from future sales of natural resources, including minerals, oil, natural gas, hydrocarbons as well as infrastructure to a reconstruction fund jointly owned with the US.
Trump’s comments come one day after his top spokeswoman said the administration was moving beyond the previously negotiated minerals deal with Kyiv to focus more broadly on a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine.
“We are now focused on a long-term peace agreement,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday. “We’ve moved beyond just the economic minerals deal framework.”
Trump’s focus on Ukraine’s commodities has raised questions about what the nation really has to offer. It has no major rare-earth reserves that are internationally recognized as economically viable. Ukraine is an established producer of coal, iron ore, uranium, titanium, and magnesium, and expanding those sectors could be profitable for the US.
The president spoke about the Ukraine agreement shortly after he invoked emergency powers to boost the US’s ability to produce critical minerals, and possibly coal, as part of a broad effort to ramp up domestic production and lower reliance on imports.
“I also signed an executive order to dramatically increase production of critical minerals and rare earths. It’s a big thing in this country, and as you know, we’re also signing agreements in various locations to unlock rare earths and minerals and lots of other things all over the world, but in particular Ukraine,” Trump said.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
Generated by readers, the comments included herein do not reflect the views and opinions of Rigzone. All comments are subject to editorial review. Off-topic, inappropriate or insulting comments will be removed.
MORE FROM THIS AUTHOR
Bloomberg