Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has rejected former U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal for $500 billion in rare earth minerals in exchange for continued military aid to Ukraine.
Rare earth minerals, which are increasingly in demand, are essential for manufacturing various technologies, including cell phones, electric vehicles, and hard drives.
“I want to have our money secured because we’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars,” Trump said during an interview with Fox News host Bret Baier last week. “They may make a deal, they may not make a deal. They may be Russian someday, or they may not be Russian someday.”
In a tweet, Trump claimed that Ukraine had agreed to repay U.S. aid by providing $500 billion in rare earth minerals.
However, Zelenskyy has denied agreeing to such a deal, contradicting Trump’s assertion that Ukraine had “essentially agreed” to the terms.
“We are going to have all this money in there, and I say: ‘I want it back.’ And I told them that I want the equivalent, like $500 billion worth of rare earth,” Trump explained during the interview. “And they have essentially agreed to do that, so at least we don’t feel stupid.”
According to a Washington Post report citing seven unnamed sources, Ukrainian officials are reportedly working on a counterproposal that would grant the U.S. greater access to Ukraine’s natural resources while strengthening U.S. security guarantees for Ukraine.
Zelenskyy addressed the press on Saturday, clarifying that he has not agreed to the deal because it is “not ready yet.”
“We can consider how to distribute profits when security guarantees are clear. So far, I have not seen that in the document,” Zelenskyy told reporters.
