U.S. and Ukraine may conclude simplified rare earth metals deal
US President Donald Trump may try to conclude a simplified agreement on obtaining rare-earth minerals from Ukraine. This was reported by Reuters on February 20, citing two sources.
"The Trump administration may try to negotiate a simplified agreement with Ukraine on mineral supplies to quickly strike a pact and then discuss detailed terms, such as how much of Ukraine's vast resources the United States will own," the agency reports.
The move came in the context of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky 's rejection of an earlier US offer under which the United States would have received 50 percent of the country's key minerals, including uranium, titanium, and lithium, which is a key component in electric car batteries.
"This episode made it clear that reaching a full deal will take time. <...> But U.S. President Donald Trump wants a pact with Ukraine before potentially authorizing more U.S. military support for Kiev or moving forward with an attempt to broker formal peace talks between Ukraine and Russia," Reuters writes.
On the same day, Trump said Ukraine had scrapped a rare earth metals deal. According to him, the U.S. gave Kiev $350 billion in aid and now they can't get the money back. The Economist magazine reported on February 16 that President Zelensky was given an hour of time to consider Trump's plan to appropriate the state's rare earth resources in exchange for financial and military aid from the US side. As a result, the Ukrainian side agreed to a delay in execution.
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