Trump makes move on Ukraine rare earths

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will travel to Ukraine this week, Donald Trump wrote in a social media post, as Washington tries to end the Russia-Ukraine war and secure American access to rare earths outside of China.

Bessent, who will be the first cabinet-level official in Trump's administration to visit Ukraine, is expected to discuss access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals, energy resources and energy assets.

It comes on the heels of Trump stunning European allies by agreeing to launch negotiations with Moscow on ending the nearly three-year Ukraine war, in his first publicly announced phone call with President Vladimir Putin since returning to power.

Both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Trump have expressed interest in a pact under which the United States would receive rare earths from Ukraine in exchange for continued support in fending off Russia.

US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said Washington is also interested in obtaining access to Ukrainian oil and gas resources in exchange for supporting Ukraine's war effort.

"We need to recoup those costs and that is going to be a partnership with the Ukrainians in terms of their rare earths, their natural resources and their oil and gas," Waltz said.

A number of other US officials traveling to Europe this week will discuss the Ukraine war with Kyiv and other European allies. They include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Keith Kellogg, the US special envoy for Ukraine.

Rare earths are metals used to make magnets that turn power into motion for electric vehicles, cell phones, missile systems, and other electronics. There are no viable substitutes, and demand is widely expected to grow.

China, with whom Trump has threatened a trade war, is the world's largest producer of rare earths and many other critical minerals.

The world's second-largest economy announced last week sweeping export controls targeting 25 metals including tungsten and indium used across defense, clean energy and other industries, minutes after an additional 10 percent tariff on Chinese goods imposed by Trump came into effect.

Ukraine has deposits of 22 of the 34 minerals identified by the European Union as critical.

Trump also said he expects to meet Putin in Saudi Arabia for the peace talks, in an extraordinary thaw in relations that sparked fears Kyiv would be frozen out.

Trump denied that Ukraine was being excluded from the direct negotiations between the two nuclear-armed superpowers.

The Kremlin said the talks with Putin lasted nearly one-and-a-half hours and that both leaders agreed the "time has come to work together."

After speaking to Putin, Trump then called Zelensky and shared details of his talks with the Kremlin leader.

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