Here’s What’s in the Critical Minerals Deal Signed by US and Ukraine

A new resource development deal between the United States and Ukraine will allow both countries to jointly invest in natural resource projects for decades to come.

Officials from the U.S. Treasury Department said during a press call on May 1 that the newly signed critical minerals deal between Washington and Kyiv would not only apply to rare earth metals but also to virtually all natural resource development in Ukraine, including oil, natural gas, and related infrastructure.

“This is not just rare earths [or] critical minerals … but it will also include oil and gas and critically, natural resources-related infrastructure to capture the full value chain associated with Ukraine’s economic development,” one Treasury official said.

The deal aims to generate substantial profits for both countries by establishing an investment fund that will funnel the royalties, license fees, and related expenses from all new natural resource projects in Ukraine back to a joint company held equally by Ukraine and the United States.

That setup will make the United States a key beneficiary of the reconstruction process in Ukraine when Russia’s ongoing invasion ends, and will grant the country sweeping investment opportunities for decades to come while encouraging a massive reconstruction of war-torn Ukraine.

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“The idea [is] that the money that comes into the fund is going to be reinvested to increase the value for the owners of the fund, the United States and Ukraine, and generate long-term returns for both the American and Ukrainian people,” the official said.

In all, the deal consists of three separate legal documents, which both President Donald Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had a personal hand in negotiating.

The first document is the legal agreement between Ukraine and the United States that establishes the obligations of both parties in the joint partnership. It must now be ratified by Ukraine’s parliament to take effect.

The other documents include a limited partnership agreement to create the fund and incorporation materials for an LLC to govern the fund and its investments.

The partnership will be controlled by a company that is governed by a board of three Ukrainians and three Americans, according to a fact sheet shared with The Epoch Times by the White House.

That board will work collaboratively to make decisions about how to allocate the fund’s resources, which new investments to prioritize, and when to distribute payments to the two governments.

The United States will also retain the privilege of offering new opportunities to American companies and deciding which companies should receive them.

“If the United States decides to acquire these resources for ourselves, we will be given first choice to either acquire them or designate the purchaser of our choice,” the fact sheet reads.

That framework also gives the United States the opportunity to prevent adversaries from gaining a foothold in Ukraine by taking over new developments before foreign actors can.

“No state, company, or person who financed or supplied the Russian war machine will be allowed to benefit from the reconstruction of Ukraine, including participation in projects supported by fund resources,” the fact sheet reads.

Likewise, one Treasury official said during the press call that the United States’ new long-term economic stake in Ukraine would ensure Washington was committed to Ukrainian sovereignty and was taken in part in “response to the large-scale destruction caused by Russia’s full-scale invasion.”

“This partnership is going to be fundamental to the peace process that the president is leading, because it sends a strong message to Russia that the United States is in the game and is committed to Ukraine’s long-term success,” the official said.

The deal is nevertheless not quite what Trump said he would pursue when he launched negotiations with Kyiv earlier in the year.

The final deal signed this week does not include any of that language, and does not obligate Ukraine with any new debt.

In the long term, however, the investment structure of the deal may yield the United States much more than Trump’s first proposal would have. As such, one Treasury official said that the novel framework of the deal could be used as a template for future international investment deals.

This will “fundamentally change the mold for international financial agreements,” the official said, and “could be a model for international economic agreements moving forward.”