When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the White House in February, he was supposed to leave Washington DC with a coveted agreement that would turn the United States into one of Ukraine’s major economic partners. A table and chairs were set up in the next room, where presidents Trump and Zelensky would sign the accord and shake hands. We know how that played out. Trump and vice-president JD Vance dressed Zelensky down in full view of the cameras and the Ukrainian president was asked to leave the premises.
Now the US-Ukraine minerals deal is finally done. Weeks of intense talks, in which US and Ukrainian negotiators exchanged drafts, rejected each other’s maximalist terms and pressed one another in the media, have culminated in a framework that is far more preferable to Kyiv than the Trump administration first sought. The Ukrainians are giddy, if only because they avoided the White House’s original idea, which was essentially a full-blown American capture of Ukraine’s natural resources.
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