The US and Ukraine on Wednesday reached a deal over access to Ukraine’s natural resources, with Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha yesterday hailing it as “an important milestone.”
The deal signed in Washington grants the US privileged access to new investment projects to develop Ukraine’s natural resources, including aluminum, graphite, oil and natural gas.
It has been seen as critical to fostering US President Donald Trump’s goodwill as his administration pushes to end the war with Russia.
Photo: Reuters
“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,” US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement. “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.”
Ukrainian Minister of Economic Affairs Yulia Svyrydenko said on social media that “together with the United States, we are creating the Fund that will attract global investment into our country.”
Trump, in a NewsNation “town hall” on Wednesday, said that he told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy when they both attended the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican last weekend that “I was telling him that it’s a very good thing if we can produce a deal that you sign.”
Under the terms of the deal, the US would get first claim on profits transferred into a special reconstruction investment fund that would be jointly managed by both nations.
The deal is intended in part to reimburse the US for future military assistance to Ukraine.
“We made a deal where our money is secure, where we can start digging and doing what we have to do,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting at the White House earlier on Wednesday.
Washington also acknowledged Kyiv’s intentions for the deal to avoid any conflict with its plans to join the EU.
The focus will now shift to the negotiations over a peace deal.
Sybiha discussed the deal with the EU’s top diplomat.
“This marks an important milestone in Ukraine-US strategic partnership aimed at strengthening Ukraine’s economy and security,” Sybiha wrote on X.
He said he had informed European Commission Vice President Kaja Kallas about the deal and that they had discussed moves to “coordinate steps ahead of important international events.”
“We discussed recent diplomatic efforts and the next steps to achieve a fair and lasting peace,” Sybiha said.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
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
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
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to