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On Wednesday night, the US Treasury announced the US and Ukraine had reached an agreement on US preferential access to Ukraine’s mineral, oil, and gas resources.
The agreement, signed by US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Ukraine’s Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko, provides for a “reconstruction investment fund” that will invest in the extraction of Ukraine’s natural resources and its related infrastructure, with profits shared between the two countries after the first 10 years. The document still needs to be approved by the Ukrainian parliament before going into effect.
The deal had been long in the making and has been repeatedly brought up by Trump as a way for Ukraine to “pay back” the US for its extensive military aid. The finalized agreement does not include any requirements for Ukraine to directly reimburse the US for past or future defense aid.
Instead, the two countries will invest in resource mining; the profits will go into post-war reconstruction for the first 10 years, after which they will be shared between the US and Ukraine. Although the two countries will “jointly manage” the investment fund, Ukraine will retain “full control” over its natural resources, and determine “where and what to extract,” said Svyrydenko.
Ukraine has extensive deposits of natural resources: it ranks 51st in terms of the world’s largest oil reserves and holds much of the world’s uranium, iron, and natural gas resources. The country is also a crucial source of rare earth metals, a group of elements used in everything from microprocessors for cellphones, to medical technology, cancer drugs, and military guidance systems.
Right now, the biggest exporters of rare earth minerals are China, Russia, and Malaysia, with most Western countries lacking their own extraction and refinery facilities and thus relying on imports. The EU imports around 40% of its rare earth metals from China, while the US is reliant on China for 70% of its imports, which form the vast majority of its total resources: the US only has one functioning mine and no refineries.
As the US and China remain locked in a trade war, tariffs and Chinese export restrictions imposed last month will make it harder for the US to source the critical metals. This deal could secure long-term access to natural resources for the US and strengthen US-Ukraine trade despite the past months’ diplomatic difficulties.
