United States President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky during their meeting in the oval office of White House in Washington on February 28, 2025 //photo courtesy: Getty images
President Trump publicly warned Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky about attempting to back down from a rare earth mineral deal between United States and Ukraine.
Speaking to Air Force reporters yesterday, Trump said that if Zelensky backs out of the agreement, he will deal with severe consequences.
“Zelensky, by the way, I see he’s trying to back out of the rare earth deal- and if he does that, he’s got some big problems,” he said.
The agreement between the United States and Ukraine stipulates that 50% of the revenue obtained from the natural resources would go to USA, which are crucial for modern technology.
The latest version of the deal was to grant the United States access to Ukraine’s oil, gas, and minerals through a joint investment fund that would split revenue between the two countries.
According to Ukrainian media outlets, Zelensky announced on March 28 that he would not sign the deal because it was going to interfere with Ukraine’s plans to join the European Union.
“I’ll not accept anything that could threaten Ukraine’s accession to the EU,” he stated.
Zelensky raised concerns, saying that the terms of the deal are incompatible with Ukraine’s national interests, as the agreement is likely to violate bloc’s economic sovereignty rules.
“He wants to be a member of the North Atlantic Alliance, but he will never be a member of NATO. He understands that,” Trump said in response to Zelensky’s political interests.
Trump also announced that he is planning to explore a natural resources deal with Russia. After a phone call with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, Trump says he’s hoping to expand trade with Moscow and get access to ‘big forms of rare earth.’
On February 24, Putin stated that Russia is open to the idea of working with foreign partners on developing rare earth metals, including the occupied regions of Ukraine.
“Rare earth metals are an important area for cooperation, and of course, we have began discussions about various rare earth metals and projects in Russia,” said Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund.
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