President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, during a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, rejected an offer by the Trump administration to relinquish half of the country’s mineral resources in exchange for U.S. support, according to five people briefed on the proposal or with direct knowledge of the talks.

The unusual deal would have granted the United States a 50 percent interest in all of Ukraine’s mineral resources, including graphite, lithium and uranium, according to two European officials. Scott Bessent, the U.S. Treasury secretary, who presented the deal to Ukraine, said Sunday that the United States wanted the minerals “as payback for the aid we’ve given them” — leaving unclear whether the deal would cover future military and financial assistance.

A Ukrainian official and an energy expert briefed on the proposal said that the Trump administration sought not only Ukraine’s minerals but additional natural resources, including oil and gas. The proposal, they said, would entitle the United States to half of Ukraine’s resource earnings — funds that are today mostly invested in the country’s military and defense production.

MBFC

Archive

  • hark@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    US support was never out of the goodness of their hearts, there was always going to be a price to pay, but of course trump goes about it in the most hamfisted way possible.

    • davesmith@feddit.uk
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      5 days ago

      The US has always got the dollar-as-global-reserve-currency out of its military spending, which is a large part of how post second world war America accrued a huge portion of unearned global wealth. Trump, those that voted for him, and those that spent decades creating this situation for personal enrichment are rapidly hastening the end of this situation.

      • hark@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        It’s not just the act of spending on the military, it’s about control which they get through the use of the military.

  • badbytes@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    Sorry Ukraine, that we elected a small handed baby, who is a terrible leader. Hopefully, things work out for you. Sincerely, U.S.A.

  • 2000mph@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    So now the US are officially running a protection racket! You really do have mob bosses running the place.

    • شاهد على إبادة@lemm.ee
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      They have been doing it with Arab countries for decades. Pay up or get sanctioned, bombed, invaded and couped. What some in the West wrongly perceive as bribes are actually tributes to avoid becoming the next Iraq, Syria or Libya, or worse: Palestine.

    • Paddzr@lemmy.world
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      5 days ago

      It’s like that crude joke

      “Would you have sex with me for 1 million? Yes. How about for 20 instead? No, I’m not a whore! We already established that, we’re now negotiating the price”

      First it was the rare earth worth X amount, now it’s half. What’s next?

  • IndustryStandard@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    Good. Crazy that people were cheering on this straight up extortion. Europe and America promised support to win the war. Now that Ukraine is deep in the sunk cost fallacy they start extorting them.

  • OutlierBlue@lemmy.ca
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    5 days ago

    What good is being saved from being enslaved by one dictator only to be enslaved by your “saviour” instead?

    • Azal@pawb.social
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      Theoretically maybe the “savior” won’t shoot, maybe.

      Look, it’s not a good deal, but hey, I’m trying this optimism thing out. Don’t think it’s working.

      That said, anyone who makes a deal with Trump hasn’t paid attention to any of the deals he made in his last administration that he’ll drop them when they’re inconvenient.

  • IndustryStandard@lemmy.world
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    Good. Crazy that people were cheering on this straight up extortion. Europe and America promised support to win the war. Now that Ukraine is deep in the sunk cost fallacy they start extorting them.

  • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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    5 days ago

    I think that, if Trump hadn’t decided to just sow chaos for the last three weeks, all of these deals he’s trying to make might actually end up with more favorable outcomes.

    How is anyone supposed to trust the US in good faith when they’re watching us destroy ourselves on purpose?

  • werefreeatlast@lemmy.world
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    I love going to the SanDiego area swap meets. There are at least 3 big ones… National city, El Cajon and Oceanside. There, many people come haggle and barter to get used or grade B products. Maybe Trump should start there?

    Anyone who has ever gone there knows that you don’t go for the jugular of your cash cow. If you’re a buyer, you wanna be a nice mosquito… Look around a few times to see what you wanna get, go elsewhere, and then come back. If you are selling, you don’t kill the mosquito, buy you know how much blood to give. As a buyer you find a thing you don’t want, which is similar to the thing you do want so you can trade down or somehow not show interest in the actual thing you want.

    Now the entire world knows that Trump is an idiot and wants 50% of all natural resources. It could have been 90% of all uranium for example. Bug nah, look, here are all my cards! Take a good look see!

    That’s Trump’s are of the deal and it’s ass. It doesn’t mater if he actually gets anything from it. Its ass. We lose, they lose, ruzzia wins. Maybe we should have a well trained Lego dealing kid to negotiate a better deal.

  • 7U5K3N@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    Good. Fuck em (us) the USA shouldn’t shake down Ukraine for minerals with the empty promise of security.

    Ukraine should join NATO and they all should rally to support Ukraine. USA isnt dependable currently. And should be treated as hostile.

    Take it from me… an american, the US government is absolutely hostile towards folks. :(

    • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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      I have this terrible feeling that Turkey would veto, even if somehow we could distract Trump with enough McDonald’s and fake tits to try to get it done.

    • ApexHunter@lemmy.ml
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      NATO isnt an option anymore. Trump being president means the US will reject their NATO application.

      • Arghblarg@lemmy.ca
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        5 days ago

        So kick US out of NATO. They can re-apply once they’re done with fascism.

      • MrNesser@lemmy.world
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        5 days ago

        Meh as long as it’s not in a treaty they can start the process and wait for trump to hit the burger king in the ground

        (I was going to say sky but we all know he ain’t going up)

        • 7U5K3N@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          I believe that the us passed a law saying that a president can’t remove the USA from NATO… But gestures broadly we can see how much rule of law matters to a R government trifecta.

          Idk… either way… Ukraine needs support and if they don’t get it… the Russians will be at doorsteps to the major European countries. IMHO.

          • ElegantBiscuit@lemm.ee
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            It doesn’t really matter what happens with nato, trump is technically commander in chief of the armed forces and just the chaos alone of the first few hours and days is where it makes all the difference. Jan 6 for example would have looked a whole lot different under a different sitting president where the national guard and military were sent in when they should have been, because as it was, disaster was minutes and tens of feet away that day.

      • Oisteink@feddit.nl
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        Nato isn’t an option for anyone anymore. Europe needs to re-group and handle their own security. This includes weapon production. US is not a stable partner, and it’s finally starting to dawn on the Europeans

    • PlainSimpleGarak@lemmings.world
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      As a US citizen, it’s never been hostile towards me. In fact, I would imagine most people have had little to no engagement with the federal government (outside of the routine items: taxes, etc…) Now, their state government may be a different story.

  • ryper@lemmy.ca
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    5 days ago

    The offer might have gone over slightly better if the US Secretary of Defense hadn’t already ruled out NATO membership and a return to Ukraine’s 2014 borders.