President Trump's proposed minerals deal with Ukraine, focused on critical minerals and rare earth elements, has attracted skepticism from experts questioning Ukraine's actual resource deposits. While Trump emphasizes potential profits to cover military aid costs, experts point out that Ukraine's mining industry primarily revolves around other minerals like titanium and graphite. The deal, initially a potential peace catalyst, remains in limbo as both economic and geopolitical implications unfold, with uncertainties about what benefits the US might provide alongside the agreement.
"I cannot find credible evidence of rare earth deposits in Ukraine. At all," Laura Lewis, a professor in chemical, mechanical and industrial engineering at Northeastern University, told Business Insider.
Erik Jonsson, a senior geologist at the Geological Survey of Sweden, said that 'Ukraine has a solid mining industry, but it's not based on rare earths.'
Trump has framed the deal's potential profits as a means of recouping the cost of military aid to Ukraine.
These are a subset of critical minerals - materials in high demand in industries like military and consumer tech that governments.
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