US, Ukraine sign deal granting minerals access via joint fund
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The news: The US and Ukraine signed an economic agreement on Wednesday in Washington after months of fraught negotiations, creating a joint fund to invest in Ukraine’s reconstruction.
According to a draft of the agreement seen by Reuters, the deal gives the US preferential access to new Ukrainian natural resources deals and provides for a joint reconstruction fund that will receive 50% of profits and royalties from new permits.
But the draft does not give Washington a share of Ukraine’s mineral wealth or its gas infrastructure.
Bloomberg reported the fund will be controlled by Washington, with the US having first claim on transferred profits.
The deal includes cash contributions to a joint fund, counts only new US military aid toward the American share, and does not conflict with Ukraine’s path to EU membership.
The context: President Donald Trump had pushed for access to Ukraine’s rare earth materials as a condition for continued US support.
Ukraine reportedly introduced new provisions after objecting to a US draft it felt disproportionately favoured American interests.
The Trump administration also dropped its insistence that the agreement allow Washington to recoup billions of dollars of past military aid.
The signed accord came after Zelensky and Trump met one on one in Rome on Saturday ahead of Pope Francis’ funeral.
What they said: The US Treasury department said the agreement “positions our two countries to ... accelerate Ukraine’s economic recovery.”
Ukraine's Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said the final version establishes an equal partnership that would last for 10 years.
“Truly, this is a strategic deal for the creation of an investment partner fund,” Shmyhal said. “This is truly an equal and good international deal on joint investment in the development and restoration of Ukraine between the governments of the United States and Ukraine.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement: “This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign and prosperous Ukraine over the long term.”
The sources: ABC News, The Wall Street Journal, Reuters
