After a few days off, the United States, Ukraine signed rare earth mineral transactions | World News
Washington, DC: CNN reported that the United States and Ukraine have signed an “Economic Partnership Agreement” that gives Washington a rare earth mineral from Ukraine in exchange for returns on creating an investment fund in the country. The United States and Ukraine have been trying to sign a deal on natural resources since President Donald Trump took office in January.
The deal between the two countries is after weeks of intense negotiations that sometimes get painful and temporarily derail our aid to Ukraine. On Wednesday, the U.S. Treasury Department said that both countries signed the agreement. “As the president said, the United States is committed to helping to promote the end of this cruel and ruthless war,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
“This agreement clearly demonstrates that the Trump administration will be committed to a peace process centered on freedom, sovereignty and prosperous Ukraine,” CNN reported. “And it is clear that states or people who do not fund or provide Russian war machines can benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine,” he noted. Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko signed the agreement on behalf of the Ukrainian government in the United States.
“On behalf of the Ukrainian government, I signed an agreement on the establishment of the Ukrainian Reconstruction Investment Fund. Together with the Ukrainian, we are creating funds that will attract global investment into our country,” Svyrydenko said in an article on X.
“The Ukrainian state decides what and where to extract it. The underground soil remains owned by Ukraine – which is clearly established in the agreement.” In the last minute document signed by the disagreement on Wednesday, the two countries signed the deal, threatening to derail the agreement.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to sign the agreement during his visit to the United States in February. But the agreement was not signed after his visit was shortened after the controversial Oval Office meeting. Key points of negotiations include security assurance issues and whether the United States uses it as part of the agreement. Initially, Trump refused, saying he wanted Ukraine to sign the deal first and later talked about security assurances.
At the time, Zelenskyy said the draft agreement required him to “sell” his country. Since then, Ukrainian officials have said they believe U.S. investment and the presence of U.S. companies in Ukraine will make U.S. interested in Ukraine’s security.
Shortly after the visit, Trump ordered a suspension of Ukraine’s assistance. Help has now been restored. However, his decision became a major wake-up call for Ukraine’s European allies, who vowed to strengthen their help to Ukraine.
Trump largely called the deal “repayment” of aid from Ukraine since its military operations began in 2022.
Details of the agreement have not been disclosed publicly. However, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shyhal said on Sunday that the agreement “will not include assistance provided before signing.”
He called the agreement a “strategic agreement to establish an investment partnership fund” in his speech Wednesday. He further stated: “This is indeed an equal and beneficial international agreement on the development and restoration of co-investment between the United States and the Ukrainian government.”
According to the deal, the United States and Ukraine will create a joint investment fund in Ukraine and have equal contributions and equal management of stock allocations between them, Shyhal said. “The US side may also be considered new, and I emphasized the new military aid to Ukraine, which is a contribution to this fund,” he said.
