The United States (U.S.) and Ukraine have signed an economic partnership agreement that will grant Washington access to Kyiv’s rare earth minerals in exchange for establishing an investment fund in Ukraine. This significant development emphasizes the strategic collaboration between the two nations in the realm of natural resources.
The U.S. and Ukraine have been attempting to finalize the natural resources agreement since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January. This deal follows weeks of intense negotiations that at times turned bitter and briefly disrupted Washington’s aid to Ukraine.
Trump stated that he informed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during their weekend meeting on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral that “it’s a very good thing” if he signed the deal because “Russia is much bigger and much stronger.” He emphasized that the deal was made to “protect” Washington’s contribution to the Ukrainian war effort, as reported by several media outlets.
“We made a deal today where we get, you know, much more in theory, than the $350 billion but I wanted to be protected,” Trump told NewsNation. “I didn’t want to be out there and look foolish.”
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Total U.S. contributions to Ukraine
The actual total contribution the U.S. has made to Ukraine is closer to $123 billion since Russia invaded in February 2022. On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that both countries had signed the agreement. “As the President has said, the United States is committed to helping facilitate the end of this cruel and senseless war,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent stated.
“This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump Administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term,” Bessent continued. “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.”
Moreover, Ukraine’s Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko was present in Washington to sign on behalf of the Ukrainian government. Among the terms of the agreement are “full ownership and control” remaining with Ukraine, as she posted on X on Wednesday.
“All resources on our territory and in territorial waters belong to Ukraine,” she asserted, adding: “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 signing came just hours after a last-minute disagreement over which documents to sign threatened to derail the deal. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky was expected to finalize the agreement during his trip to Washington in February; however, the deal was left unsigned when that visit was cut short following a contentious Oval Office meeting.
