US and Ukraine Agree on Minerals Deal: Here’s What It Means

The United States and Ukraine have signed their minerals deal, which aims to grant the US access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals and establish a reconstruction investment fund.

Quick Takes

The US and Ukraine have signed a deal that, if ratified by Ukraine’s parliament, will grant the US access to the latter’s resources.
The agreement will also form a reconstruction investment fund for Ukraine.
The agreement was initiated by Trump, three years post Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko has touted the agreement as mutually beneficial.

Detangling the Agreement: What It Means

The new minerals deal recently signed by the US and Ukraine, if approved by the latter’s parliament, grants the US preferential access to Ukraine’s vast mineral wealth. In return, the US has pledged to facilitate the creation of a reconstruction investment fund that aims to rebuild and bolster Ukraine’s economy. This fund will focus on critical projects like mining, oil, and gas, with an exclusion from profits for the first decade.

According to Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, the fund is being established on a 50/50 basis to grant the two nations an equal partnership in the deal. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also spoke up about the deal, saying, “This partnership allows the United States to invest alongside Ukraine to unlock Ukraine’s gross assets, mobilize American talent, capital and governance standards that will improve Ukraine’s investment climate an accelerate Ukraine’s economic recovery.”

The signing of the agreement comes months after it was initially delayed due to tense disagreements between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. While the current deal does not appear to contain any specific security guarantees that Ukraine originally pushed for, Bessent indicated the deal would help Ukraine’s economy and help to “facilitate the end of this cruel and senseless war.”

Ukraine, US sign minerals deal, tying Trump to Kyiv https://t.co/U6Hia7IAxL

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Concerns and Ukraine’s Agency

According to CNBC, not everyone has been welcoming of the agreement. Ed Verona from the Atlantic Council suggested that Ukraine had “little choice but to acquiesce to terms that reduce it to the status of a virtual colony.”

Nonetheless, Ukraine has taken measures to ensure its agency within this partnership. Svyrydenko emphasized the nation’s right to determine “where and what to extract,” thereby affirming Ukraine’s control over its mineral resources. In a social media post, the official also said, “It is important that the agreement will become a signal to other global players that it is reliable to cooperate with Ukraine in the long term — for decades.”