Posted on 02/21/2025 3:38:02 PM PST by MinorityRepublican
Donald Trump appears to have won his trade standoff with Volodymyr Zelensky, as the Ukrainian president is set to give in and sign a deal giving the U.S. access to deposits of critical minerals.
The deal was seen as crucial for satisfying Washington's demands for a peace settlement between Ukraine and Russia to end their three-year long war.
Zelensky said on Friday that officials from his country and the U.S. were working on concluding an economic deal to ensure that the accord worked and was fair to Kyiv.
'We're signing an agreement, hopefully in the next fairly short period of time,' Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about a deal for Ukraine's minerals.
The Wall Street Journal later cited several people familiar with the matter that the deal is close and will be signed within hours.
It comes following word that Zelensky angered Trump so much during negotiations that Trump threatened to completely pull US funding from Ukraine, Axios reported.
On Wednesday Zelensky rejected the demand for a share of its rare earth minerals—critical for cellphone production and a host of clean technologies.
That triggered a brutal war of words between the two leaders but an improved offer has reportedly been made to Kyiv.
Trump has famously said that the Russia-Ukraine war would never have started had he been president and claimed he could bring the conflict to an abrupt halt - without ever revealing his plans for doing so.
The president has been clear that Ukraine must remunerate the US for the aid provided to support the war effort thus far. The US President has said the figure stands at $300 billion.
The prospect of extracting Ukraine's natural resources has evidently been part of the Trump administration's plan from the outset.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Trump was right again
Did this dwarf Castro wannabe think he could threaten President Trump and win?
Originally, I read that Trump offered to protect Ukraine for 500 billion minerals deal. I sincerely hope we are not committed to protecting that blankety-blank for a mineral deal that would put us on the other side of Putin.
This story makes no sense unless someone let Trump in on resources that are not well known.
There are small amounts of rare earths all over Ukraine but about 2/3rds Zelensky doesnt have to bargain with. The two largest deposits making up over 60% are in the Russian populated Russian occupied areas that voted to leave.
Otherwise I suppose that maybe Putin has already signaled his agreement and Trump has just playing hardball with Zelensky?
Trump is quite the phenomenon. A real dynamo. Our country is lucky to have such a man as our president.
Rubio explained how the whole thing went down .. he said that Zelenskyy agreed to his face that he would give between 200 and 500 mil in those minerals but needed approval from others in his inner circle so Rubio said that’s fair but all of a sudden the next day Rubio is watching tv and hears Zelenskyy say the deal is off so he’s like what the hell and trump reacted with anger cause trump felt like he was lied to
Biden would have done it in exchange for a gallon of ice cream.
It takes a worried man to sing a worried song.
Kingston Trio.
Right and there are no bio labs in Ukraine.
You find it somehow easier to believe President Trump is just an idiot and made a deal on non existent minerals?
Guess he became a Billionaire and the President twice by being a moron, good grief.
Yes, isn’t it great to be winning again.
Best chance for the Ukraine to stabilize and rebuild its economy.
The vultures who were waiting to swoop in and buy up the Ukraine for pennies on the dollar are bummed
360 billion, not 300 billion.
Anyway it’s a third of a trillion. We’re getting there
What General Kellogg doink?
As Rubio explained today, this was the best deal Ukraine could get: US management of ports, mineral extraction and infrastructure means Putin won’t attack Ukraine and Putin gets to claim “no NATO” and “victory,” although it remains to be seen what the final borders will look like.
Trump is reported to have said this earlier: “ They don’t have any cards, but they play it tough’”
He sure decided to burn a lot of good will by delaying this and throwing in choice words in the mean time.
Very unwise...to say the least. Literally biting the hand that feeds you.
That is what win win looks like—for the US and Russia.
Ukraine gets scraps thrown from the table—like the family dog.
The neighbors and their dogs get to howl because they were not consulted.
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