The United States and Ukraine signed a rare earth mineral deal on Wednesday, allowing the United States to have access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals as President Donald Trump’s administration continues to negotiate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
In a Wednesday press release, the Treasury Department announced that the United States and Ukraine signed an agreement to form an “economic partnership” and create the “United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund” to help “accelerate” the recovery of the Ukrainian economy by working together on a joint investment in the country’s oil, natural gas, and rare earth minerals.
The Treasury Department stated, “Under the leadership of President Donald J. Trump, the Treasury Department and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) will work together with the Government of Ukraine to finalize program governance and advance this important partnership.”
According to Fox News, Ukrainian Economy Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko traveled to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday to finalize the rare earth minerals deal.
“On behalf of the Government of Ukraine, I signed the Agreement on the Establishment of a United States–Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund,” she wrote in a statement on X, formerly Twitter. “Together with the United States, we are creating the Fund that will attract global investment into our country.”
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Svyrydenko explained that under the agreement, Ukraine will determine “what and where to extract” and that Ukrainian subsoil will remain “under Ukrainian ownership.” According to Svyrydenko, the fund will operate on a “50/50 basis,” will be “jointly managed” by the United States and Ukraine, and will be financed through new oil, gas, and mineral licenses in Ukraine.
“The fund will then invest in extraction projects for critical materials, oil, and gas — as well as in related infrastructure and processing,” Svyrydenko tweeted. “Specific investment projects will be selected jointly by Ukraine and the US. Importantly, the Fund may invest exclusively in Ukraine.”
In Wednesday’s press release, Treasury Department Secretary Scott Bessent applauded the “historic economic partnership agreement” between the two countries and emphasized that the United States is “committed to helping facilitate the end of this cruel and senseless war.”
“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,” Bessent 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. 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.”
