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Ukraine has offered to strike a deal with President Donald Trump for continued American military aid in exchange for developing Ukraines mineral industry, which could provide a valuable source of the rare earth elements that are essential for many kinds of technology. Trump said that he wanted such a deal earlier this month, and it was initially proposed last fall by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as part of his plan to strengthen Kyivs hand in future negotiations with Moscow. We really have this big potential in the territory which we control, Andrii Yermak, chief of staff to the Ukrainian president, said in an exclusive interview with The Associated Press. We are interested to work, to develop, with our partners, first of all, with the United States. Here is a look at Ukraines rare earth industry and how a deal might come together: What are rare earth elements? Rare earth elements are a set of 17 elements that are essential to many kinds of consumer technology, including cellphones, hard drives and electric and hybrid vehicles. It’s unclear if Trump is seeking specific elements in Ukraine, which also has other minerals to offer. It can be lithium. It can be titanium, uranium, many others, Yermak said. Its a lot. China, Trumps chief geopolitical adversary, is the worlds largest producer of rare earth elements. Both the U.S and Europe have sought to reduce their dependence on Beijing. For Ukraine, such a deal would ensure that its biggest and most consequential ally doesn’t freeze military support. That would be devastating for the country, which has been at war for nearly three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022. The idea also comes at a time when reliable and uninterrupted access to critical minerals is increasingly hard to come by globally. What is the state of the Ukrainian minerals industry? Ukraines rare earth elements are largely untapped because of the war and because of state policies regulating the mineral industry. The country also lacks good information to guide the development of rare earth mining. Geological data is thin because mineral reserves are scattered across Ukraine, and existing studies are considered largely inadequate. The industry’s true potential is clouded by insufficient research, according to businessmen and analysts. In general, the outlook for Ukrainian natural resources is promising. The country’s reserves of titanium, a key component for the aerospace, medical and automotive industries, are believed to be among Europes largest. Ukraine also holds some of Europes largest known reserves of lithium, which is required to produce batteries, ceramics and glass. In 2021, the Ukrainian mineral industry accounted for 6.1% of the countrys gross domestic product and 30% of exports. An estimated 40% of Ukraine’s metallic mineral resources are inaccessible because of Russian occupation, according to data from We Build Ukraine, a Kyiv-based think tank. Ukraine has argued that it’s in Trumps interest to develop the remainder before Russian advances capture more. The European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union, identified Ukraine as a potential supplier for more than 20 critical raw materials and concluded that if the country joins the 27-nation EU, it could strengthen the European economy. What happens next? Details of any deal will likely develop in meetings between U.S. and Ukrainian officials. Trump announced Tuesday that he would send Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to Ukraine to meet with Zelenskyy. This War MUST and WILL END SOON Too much Death and Destruction. The U.S. has spent BILLIONS of Dollars Globally, with little to show, Trump said in a post on his social media network about the trip. U.S. companies have expressed interest, according to Ukrainian business officials. But striking a formal deal would likely require legislation, geological surveys and negotiation of specific terms. It’s unclear what kind of security guarantees companies would require to risk working in Ukraine, even in the event of a ceasefire. And no one knows for sure what kind of financing agreements would underpincontracts between Ukraine and U.S companies. Samya Kullab, Associated Press Susie Blann and Associated Press writer Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.
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E-Commerce
President Donald Trump on Tuesday moved to revert to older standards for light bulbs as well as toilets, showers and other water-using appliances, a day after signing an order promoting plastic straws and rescinding a plan to reduce single-use plastics. Trump said he would call on the Environmental Protection Agency to go back to water standards from his first White House term that would also affect sinks, washing machines and dishwashers. In a post on his private social media platform, Trump wrote that he was directing EPA Secretary Lee Zeldin “to immediately go back to my Environmental Orders,” calling them common sense. “I look forward to signing these orders,” Trump added. On Monday, Trump signed an executive order encouraging the U.S. government and consumers to buy plastic drinking straws, part of a broader weakening of environmental commitments by the Republican president after taking office on Jan. 20. Trump first served in the White House from 2017-2021. Trump’s Democratic predecessor, President Joe Biden, had embraced a host of environmental measures, including new energy-efficiency requirements for household clothes washers and dishwashers that capped water usage. Conservatives had challenged the rules in court. (This story has been corrected to reflect that no action has been taken yet in the headline) Susan Heavey, Reuters
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E-Commerce
The Trump administrations dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development is stiffing American businesses on hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid bills for work that has already been done, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday. The administrations abrupt freeze on foreign aid also is forcing mass layoffs by U.S. suppliers and contractors for USAID, including 750 furloughs at one company, Washington-based Chemonics International, the lawsuit says. One cannot overstate the impact of that unlawful course of conduct: on businesses large and small forced to shut down their programs and let employees go; on hungry children across the globe who will go without; on populations around the world facing deadly disease; and on our constitutional order, the U.S. businesses and organizations said. An organization representing 170 small U.S. businesses, major suppliers, an American Jewish group aiding displaced people abroad, the American Bar Association and others joined the court challenge. It was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington against President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, acting USAID Deputy Administrator Peter Marocco, a Trump appointee who has been a central figure in hollowing out the agency, and Russell Vought, Trumps head of the Office of Management and Budget. It is at least the third lawsuit over the administration’s rapid unraveling of the U.S. aid and development agency and its programs worldwide. Trump and ally Elon Musk have targeted USAID in particular, saying its work is out of line with Trumps agenda. Marocco, Musk and Rubio have overseen an across-the-board freeze on foreign assistance and agency shutdown under a Jan. 20 executive order by Trump. A lawsuit brought by federal employees associations has temporarily blocked the administration from pulling thousands of USAID staffers off the job. The funding freeze and other measures have persisted, including the agency losing the lease on its Washington headquarters. The new administration terminated contracts without the required 30-day notice and without back payments for work that was already done, according to a U.S. official, a businessperson with a USAID contract and an email seen by The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal by the Trump administration. For Chemonics, one of the larger of the USAID partners, the funding freeze has meant $103 million in unpaid invoices and almost $500 million in USAID-ordered medication, food and other goods stalled in the supply chain or ports, the lawsuit says. For the health commodities alone, not delivering them on time could potentially lead to as many as 566,000 deaths from HIV/AIDS, malaria, and unmet reproductive health needs, including 215,000 pediatric deaths, the lawsuit says. The filing asserts that the administration has no authority to block programs and funding mandated by Congress without approval. Marocco defended the funding cutoff and push to put all but a fraction of USAID staff on leave in an affidavit filed late Monday in the lawsuit brought by the workers groups. Insubordination and noncompliance by USAID staffers made it necessary to stop funding and operations by the agency to allow the administration to carry out a program-by-program review to decide what U.S. aid programs could resume overseas, Marocco wrote. Ellen Knickmeyer, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
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