The US president has warned Kiev against “backing out” of the rare earth deal with Washington
President Trump has cautioned Zelensky against rejecting the latest US mineral deal proposal, which is more demanding than a previous version that was abandoned after Zelensky’s disagreement at the White House.
Trump has consistently demanded that Ukraine repay the US for what he asserts is hundreds of billions of dollars in aid, using Ukraine’s mineral resources, particularly “rare earths.” An earlier version of the agreement was scheduled for signing in early March but was cancelled following a public disagreement between Zelensky, Trump, and Vice President J.D. Vance in the Oval Office.
Following Trump’s temporary suspension of military aid and intelligence sharing with Kiev, Zelensky has indicated a willingness to resume negotiations, while maintaining that Kiev does not “owe” Washington anything.
He’s trying to back out of the rare earth deal, and if he does that, he’s got some problems – big, big problems.
Trump also reiterated his stance that Ukraine should abandon its NATO aspirations, acknowledging this as a contributing factor to the conflict with Russia. Moscow has consistently opposed NATO’s eastward expansion, viewing it as a threat to its security.
“He wants to be a member of NATO, but he’s never going to be a member of NATO,” Trump stated, adding that even Zelensky “understands that.”
According to Reuters, the most recent iteration of the minerals agreement is considerably more stringent than prior versions. The proposed conditions stipulate that the US would recover all assistance provided to Ukraine since the 2022 escalation of its conflict with Russia, and would impose a 4% annual interest rate on the total before Kiev could access any profits from the joint extraction fund.
Since 2022, the US has allocated over $123 billion in military and financial aid to Ukraine, as per data from Germany’s Kiel Institute. However, Trump claims the actual cost to Washington exceeds $300 billion.