Trump warns Zelensky: Rare earth dispute heats up
Donald Trump claims that Volodymyr Zelensky wants to withdraw from the agreement on rare earth metals. "If he does, he will have some problems, big, big problems," the American president warned.
Volodymyr Zelensky voiced concerns about the deal with the US, which Bloomberg and the Financial Times reported. The document states that profits from Ukrainian resources would flow to the USA, potentially impacting the Ukrainian economy and its integration with the European Union.
On Sunday, Donald Trump accused Zelensky of intending to withdraw from this agreement and warned that such a move would have consequences. "He's trying to back out of the rare earth deal and if he does that he's got some problems, big, big problems," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One.
"He wants to be a member of NATO, but he's never going to be a member of NATO. He understands that," added Trump.
Conflict over rare earth metals
The President of Ukraine emphasized he would not agree to conditions that could threaten the country's European aspirations. The Ukrainian side is working on amendments to the draft agreement, while Washington is pushing for a quick signing.
Rare earth metals, also known as rare earth elements, are a group of 17 chemical elements, including scandium, yttrium, lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and lutetium.
