The United States and Ukraine announced on Wednesday the creation of a new reconstruction and investment fund, formalizing an economic agreement between the two countries that is intended to give the U.S. access to proceeds from Ukraine’s reserves of rare earth minerals.
The agreement concludes months of fraught negotiations over whether the United States will continue to provide Ukraine with economic and military support for Ukraine as it tries to broker an end to its war with Russia. The economic agreement is intended to provide Ukraine with an implicit security arrangement while addressing President Trump’s concerns that the U.S. has provided Kyiv with a blank check.
“This agreement signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process centered on a free, sovereign, and prosperous Ukraine over the long term,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “President Trump envisioned this partnership between the American people and the Ukrainian people to show both sides’ commitment to lasting peace and prosperity in Ukraine.”
He added: “And to be clear, no state or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine.”