How Ukraine Pitched Trump on a Deal for Critical Minerals

Over the past week, Mr. Trump has repeatedly pushed the idea of trading U.S. aid for Ukraine’s critical minerals. He told Fox News on Monday that he wanted “the equivalent of like $500 billion worth of rare earths,” a group of minerals crucial for many high-tech products, in exchange for American aid. Ukraine had “essentially agreed to do that,” he said.

For Ukraine, it is a hopeful sign that Mr. Trump, a longtime skeptic of American aid to Kyiv, might find a path to maintaining support that he finds palatable. But it’s still possible that the famously mercurial president will change his mind, and even his statements about a deal have been ambiguous about whether he wants Ukraine’s minerals for past or future aid — or a combination of both.

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The campaign was launched after politically connected U.S. investors started showing interest in Ukraine’s underground wealth in late 2023, despite the war that has been raging since 2022. A consortium including TechMet, an energy investment firm partly owned by the U.S. government, and Ronald S. Lauder, a wealthy friend of Mr. Trump, has engaged with Kyiv to bid on a Ukrainian lithium field, according to a letter to Mr. Zelensky reviewed by The New York Times.

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