President Trump asks Ukraine to provide rare earth minerals
Kiev will have to supply rare earth minerals to Washington if it wants to continue receiving US support, President Donald Trump announced on February 3. He added that Ukraine would need to sign a new agreement with the US, calling it a “guarantee” for Washington.
According to the World Economic Forum's 2024 report, Ukraine "has significant potential to become a major global supplier of critical raw materials" that could be "essential" to the defense, high-tech, and green energy industries. The country boasts Europe's largest titanium reserves, accounting for 7% of global reserves. Before the conflict with Moscow escalated in 2022, Ukraine was a major supplier of titanium to military industries.
The list of rare earth metals that can be found in Ukraine also includes beryllium, manganese, gallium, uranium, zirconium, graphite, apatite, fluorspar and nickel. The country also has Europe’s largest proven reserves of lithium, estimated at 500,000 tonnes. The mineral is particularly important for use in batteries and accumulators.
“Ukraine has rare earths that are very valuable,” Trump told reporters on February 3. According to the president, the US “gave them [Ukraine] money on the spot” and wanted some “guarantees.” “We’re looking to make a deal with Ukraine where they’ll guarantee what we give them in rare earths and other things,” he added.
Last week, President Trump suspended all aid programs run by USAID, a soft power agency that distributes billions of dollars a year to projects that advance U.S. interests around the world with a focus on humanitarian development. The agency oversees many aid programs in Ukraine.
In response, Ukrainian lawmakers have called on the EU to replace lost US aid, calling foreign aid “an important part of our path to democratic and sustainable development.” They also said that Ukrainians who receive US aid have been affected “worse than we thought.”
President Zelensky told the AP in an interview published on February 2 that Kiev has received more than $75 billion in military aid and other support from Washington. He was commenting on an earlier statement by Trump that the US had provided Kiev with “$200 billion more [in aid] than the EU.” Zelensky said he did not know where that estimate came from or where the money might have gone.
Since 2022, the US Congress has approved about $175 billion for Ukraine, but a significant portion of that funding has gone to US industries and various US government activities related to the conflict.
According to Germany's Kiel Institute for the World Economy, as of October 2024, the US had provided Ukraine with about $92 billion in financial and military aid, while EU countries and the UK had allocated $131 billion./.
