The United States and Ukraine signed an “Economic Partnership Agreement”
Washington, DC: According to CNN, the United States and Ukraine have reached an “economic partnership agreement,” which grants Washington access to Ukraine‘s rare earth resources in exchange for setting up an investment fund there.
The United States and Ukraine have been attempting to reach a natural resources deal since President Donald Trump took office in January. After weeks of rigorous discussions that sometimes became acrimonious and momentarily halted US funding to Ukraine, the two countries reached an agreement.
The deal was signed by both countries, according to the US Treasury Department on Wednesday. “The United States is committed to helping facilitate the end of this cruel and senseless war,” said US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a statement.
He said, “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,” according to CNN.
He said, “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.”
Yulia Svyrydenko, Ukraine’s minister of economy, was in the United States to sign the deal on behalf of the Ukrainian government.
“I signed the Agreement on the Establishment of a United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund on behalf of the Government of Ukraine,” Svyrydenko said in a post on X. We are establishing the Fund in collaboration with the United States to draw in foreign investment to our nation.”
“The Ukrainian state decides what and where to extract,” she said in the post. The Agreement makes it quite clear that Ukrainians still control the subsurface.
The two countries inked the agreement barely hours after it was in danger of failing due to a last-minute dispute about which papers to sign on Wednesday.
The deal was supposed to be signed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy when he visited the United States in February. But after the controversial Oval Office encounter, his visit was cut short, and the pact was never signed.
The issue of security assurances and whether the US would provide them as part of the deal was the main source of contention throughout the discussions. According to CNN, Trump initially objected, stating that he preferred Ukraine to sign the agreement first and discuss security assurances afterwards.
Zelenskyy referred to the draft deal at the time as a request for him to “sell” his country. Since then, Ukrainian authorities have expressed their belief that US investment and US companies operating in Ukraine would increase US involvement in Ukraine’s security.
Trump ordered the suspension of US funding to Ukraine shortly after his visit. The help is again back in operation. His choice, however, served as a significant wake-up call for Ukraine’s European friends, who have promised to increase their assistance to the country.
Trump has referred to the deal as Ukraine “paying back” the United States for the help it has received since Russia began its military campaign in Ukraine in 2022.
The agreement’s specifics have not been made public. The deal “will not include assistance provided before its signing,” according to a statement made by Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Sunday, CNN reported.
In his remarks on Wednesday, he referred to the pact as a “strategic agreement on the establishment of an investment partnership fund.” He said, “It is truly an equal and beneficial international agreement on joint investments in the development and recovery of Ukraine between the US and Ukrainian governments.”
According to Shmyhal, the agreement calls for the US and Ukraine to establish a joint investment fund in Ukraine with equal contributions from both parties and a division of management shares that is equal. He said, “The American side may also count new, I emphasize new, military aid to Ukraine as a contribution to this fund.”