The US president, Donald Trump, stated on Monday that he wants Ukraine to hand over rare earths to the U.S., key minerals for technological innovations ranging from electric vehicles and wind turbines to state-of-the-art aircraft, technological products, modern weaponry, or electric batteries in exchange for the aid that Washington is providing.
The US Geological Survey considers 50 critical minerals for the country's economy and national defense, including various types of rare earths, nickel, and lithium.
Ukraine holds large deposits of uranium, lithium, and titanium, although none of them are among the world's top five largest in volume. The United States has its own untapped reserves of these and other critical minerals.
Despite that, the U.S. only has one operational rare earth mine with little processing capacity. The problem lies in the 'commercial cold war' with China being the world's largest producer of rare earths and many other minerals essential for weaponry and technology.
"We are telling the Ukrainians that they have very valuable rare earths. We want whatever we offer to be somehow guaranteed. We want a guarantee," Trump declared to the press in the Oval Office of the White House, insisting that Ukraine should give something to Washington in exchange for the aid it provides.
According to Trump, the previous president, Joe Biden, "never asked them for money" and only "handed money over to them", referring to the military and other aid that the United States has provided to Ukraine worth over $100 billion since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022.
Specifically, the aid would reach $65.9 billion in military assistance and $35 billion in humanitarian aid through USAID. "They 'cover' what we give them with their rare earths and other things," stated the American president from the Oval Office.
According to Trump, Kiev would have already expressed its willingness to provide these "essential materials," although he did not specify which ones exactly. But the deal is not frowned upon by the Zelensky Government, which has already offered some of its "services" such as its energy capacity to not depend on Russian gas.
In the president's opinion, the European Union is not matching the United States in terms of providing aid to Ukraine and that needs to be "rebalanced" because "we have an ocean between us, and they don't."
Before entering the White House, Trump advocated for immediately ending the conflict in Ukraine, something he has not yet achieved.
He has also stated that he hopes to be able to speak with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to "put an end to the war" in Ukraine, while last Friday he remained cryptic about whether he has already spoken with Putin or not.