US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that his treasury secretary was treated “rudely” during an official visit to Kyiv, accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of “sleeping” and failing to make a deal.
US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent met Zelenskiy in Ukraine’s capital last week to discuss granting Washington access to rare earth minerals in return for security support.
“Scott Bessent actually went there and was treated rather rudely, because essentially, they told him: ‘No,’” Trump told reporters on Air Force One, adding: “And Zelenskiy was sleeping and unavailable to meet him.”
Photo: Reuters
Bessent “traveled many hours on the train, which is a dangerous trip, and we’re talking about the secretary of the treasury,” Trump said. “He went there to get a document signed, and when he got there, he came back empty. They wouldn’t sign the document.”
The remarks came after Trump branded the Ukrainian president a “dictator” who refuses to hold elections and said the Russians “have the cards” in any negotiation to end the war.
Zelenskiy earlier said that Trump was living in a Russian “disinformation” bubble, responding to comments by the US president about Zelenskiy’s popularity rating.
Trump has criticized US military funding for Ukraine since it was invaded by Russia and suggested this month that he wanted an agreement to access Ukraine’s rare earth material as a condition to sustain support.
Bessent was dispatched to Kyiv on Wednesday last week to discuss the matter, the first member of Trump’s Cabinet to visit Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would like to meet with Trump.
“I would like to have a meeting, but it needs to be prepared so that it brings results,” Putin said on Wednesday in televised remarks.
He said that he would be “pleased” to meet Trump, but added that Trump has acknowledged that a Ukrainian settlement could take longer than he initially hoped.
Additional reporting by AP
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
RSS