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The Trump administration may seek to strike a simplified minerals deal with Ukraine to get a pact in place quickly and later negotiate detailed terms, such as how much of Ukraine’s vast resources the U.S. would own.
That’s according to Reuters, citing two people with knowledge of the matter, Ukrinform reports.
The revised approach is just one of several being discussed at the White House on how to clinch a deal with Kyiv in the coming weeks, an unusually quick timeline for a complex sector where deals usually involve private companies and state entities, not governments.
A revised, simplified approach would help the United States sidestep numerous legal and logistical hurdles and give it time to negotiate the details of the development, including revenue sharing, at a later date.
“The U.S. has not historically used natural resource-for-aid swaps, but it’s a tried and tested tool in China’s minerals playbook,” said Gracelin Baskaran, director of the critical minerals security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Ukraine was keenly interested in building a deeper economic and security relationship with the United States and finding a way to recognize the significant U.S. investment already made in Ukraine’s future, said Tyson Barker, former U.S. deputy special envoy for Ukraine’s economic recovery.
“The Ukrainians are more than willing to give extra advantages to the United States, in the form of privileged concessional access to critical mineral resources, in recognition of the billions of dollars that American taxpayers have put into Ukraine,” he said.
Barker said some similar terms would need to be offered to other countries that contributed heavily to Ukraine during the war, including Canada, Britain, Japan and the EU.
On February 15, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that an agreement with the United States on the use of Ukraine’s natural resources is not yet ready for signing. He emphasized that such agreements should involve investments tied to security guarantees.
Meanwhile, media reports citing a draft agreement granting the U.S. access to Ukrainian minerals — valued at $500 billion — suggest that its terms resemble those imposed on a defeated aggressor state. According to these reports, the proposed conditions are even more stringent than the financial sanctions placed on Germany and Japan following their defeat in 1945.
