US, Ukraine sign pact on rare minerals

The United States and Ukraine have at last signed the rare minerals treaty by which the US has first access to the rare minerals available in Ukraine. The two countries have committed to set up a joint investment fund by which Ukraine would spend 50 per cent of its earnings from its natural resources on reconstruction in Ukraine, and the US would contribute directly to the fund.

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The treaty was signed on Wednesday in Washington by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Ukraine's Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko. The text of the agreement is yet to be made public. But the diplomatic and political fallout of the agreement remains significant.

Bessent said that the agreement means that the US was “committed to a process centred on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term.” Bessent also said, “President Trump envisioned this partnership between the American people and the Ukrainian people to show both sides’ commitment to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine.”

The American statement further said, “And to be clear, no state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine.” This would exclude America’s traditional rivals China, Iran. What is not clear is whether the US is now committed to support Ukraine in the war with Russia.