US, Ukraine sign rare earth minerals deal

WASHINGTON DC: The United States and Ukraine have signed an “economic partnership agreement,” giving Washington access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals in return for creating an investment fund in the country, CNN reported.

Since President Donald Trump assumed office in January, the US and Ukraine have been trying to sign an agreement on natural resources. The deal between the two nations comes after weeks of intense negotiations that at times became bitter and temporarily derailed US aid to Ukraine.

On Wednesday, the US Treasury Department said that both nations signed the agreement. In a statement, the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said, “As the President has said, the United States is committed to helping facilitate the end of this cruel and senseless war.”

He stated, “This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump Administration is committed to a peace process centred on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term,” CNN reported. He noted, “And to be clear, no state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko was in the US to sign the agreement on behalf of the Ukrainian government. In a post on X, Svyrydenko stated, “On behalf of the Government of Ukraine, I signed the Agreement on the Establishment of a United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund. Together with the United States, we are creating the Fund that will attract global investment into our country.

In the post, she stated, “It is the Ukrainian state that determines what and where to extract. Subsoil remains under Ukrainian ownership — this is clearly established in the Agreement. The two nations signed the deal just hours after a last-minute disagreement over which documents to sign Wednesday threatened to derail the agreement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was expected to sign the agreement during his visit to the US in February. However, the agreement was not signed after his visit was cut short following the contentious Oval Office meeting.

The key sticking point of the negotiations included the question of security guarantees and whether the US would provide them as part of the agreement. Initially, Trump refused, saying he wanted Ukraine to sign the deal first and talk about security guarantees later, CNN reported.

At that time, Zelenskyy called the draft agreement as asking him to “sell” his nation. Since then, Ukrainian officials indicated they believed that US investment and the presence of US firms in Ukraine will make the US more interested in security of Ukraine.

Shortly after his visit, Trump ordered the suspension of US aid to Ukraine. The assistance has now been restored. However, his decision became a major wake-up call for Ukraine’s European allies, who have vowed to step up their help to Ukraine.

Trump has largely termed the agreement as Ukraine “paying back” for the aid which has been provided by the US to Ukraine since Russia started its military action in Ukraine in 2022. The details of the agreement have not been disclosed publicly. However, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Sunday that the agreement “will not include assistance provided before its signing,” CNN reported.

Speaking on Wednesday, he called the deal a “strategic agreement on the establishment of an investment partnership fund.” He further said, “It is truly an equal and beneficial international agreement on joint investments in the development and recovery of Ukraine between the US and Ukrainian governments.

Shmyhal said that under the deal, the US and Ukraine will create a joint investment fund in Ukraine with an equal contributions from both and equal distribution of management shares between them. He said, “The American side may also count new, I emphasize new, military aid to Ukraine as a contribution to this fund.” (ANI)