Ukrainian authorities postpone US minerals deal to let Trump seal it – NYT

The New York Times reports that the Ukrainian government has twice postponed a minerals deal with the United States, possibly to give President-elect Donald Trump the opportunity to present the agreement as his own achievement.

Source: The New York Times citing sources

Quote: "Ukraine had planned to sign an agreement to cooperate on extracting and processing minerals with the Biden administration. But the Ukrainian authorities have postponed the signing twice, according to officials on both sides – a signal that Kyiv may be waiting for Mr. Trump to take office to present the deal as an early victory for his administration."

Details: The newspaper cites data from Ukrainian private equity firm Horizon Capital that Ukraine has deposits of 20 major minerals, such as cobalt and graphite, with reserves estimated at US$11.5 trillion. Particularly, Ukraine has about a third of Europe's proven reserves of lithium, a key material for batteries that could be of interest to Elon Musk's electric vehicle business.

Republican and Trump ally Senator Lindsey Graham said in an interview with Fox News last month that this war is about money, saying that Trump is going to make a deal to get US money back, to enrich himself with rare earth minerals, calling the deal good for both Ukraine and the United States.

The newspaper notes that "from desperate stabs at diplomacy to fanciful expressions of flattery, Ukrainian officials are doing everything they can to bring President-elect Donald J. Trump into their corner as they try to strengthen their position in the war against Russia."

They also said that Ukraine's "the most audacious effort" to reach out to Trump were made after Ukrainian officials learned that the US President-elect was planning to travel to Paris last Saturday to attend the opening of Notre Dame Cathedral.

Quote: "First, they pushed for help from the French president’s office to organize a meeting between Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Trump, according to a French official who requested anonymity to discuss the preparations. Then, with no guarantee of a meeting, Mr. Zelensky’s team traveled many hours to Paris from Kyiv by train and plane.

The meeting was confirmed just before Mr. Trump walked into the Élysée Palace for talks with France’s president. Less than an hour later, Mr. Zelensky joined them. The discussion between the three men, supposed to last 15 minutes, stretched to 45."

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