Trump says critical minerals deal with Ukraine likely to be signed ‘next Thursday’
(L-R) U.S. President Donald Trump greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as he arrives at the White House in Washington, U.S. on February 28, 2025. (AFP Photo)
United States President Donald Trump said Thursday that a long-awaited critical minerals agreement with Ukraine is expected to be finalized next week, following months of delays and diplomatic tension.
“I assume they’re going to live up to the deal, so we’ll see. But we have a deal on that,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Initially suggesting the agreement could be signed next Thursday (April 24), Trump later revised the timeline after conferring with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, saying the deal would be signed “soon.”
Asked whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy would return to Washington to sign the agreement in person, Bessent said, “We’re still working on the details,” but added that both sides were aiming to conclude the deal by around April 26.
‘We went straight to deal’
“It’s substantially what we agreed on previously,” Bessent said, referring to an earlier memorandum of understanding. “But the president was here. We had a memorandum of understanding. We went straight to the big deal.”
The agreement had originally been scheduled for signing during Zelenskyy’s visit to the White House on February 28. However, that meeting collapsed after a rare public dispute, during which Trump and Vice President JD Vance sharply criticized Zelenskyy and accused him of being ungrateful for years of U.S. support.
Despite the setback, officials now appear optimistic that the deal — seen as strategically important to reducing U.S. reliance on China for rare earth elements — will be finalized in the coming days.
