Trump wanted Ukraine minerals deal to get ‘leverage’ over Russia, Bessent says

WASHINGTON — President Trump signed off on last week’s minerals deal with Ukraine to get more “leverage” over Russia in peace negotiations — on top of getting the US money in exchange for aid provided to Kyiv, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday.

“The economic partnership was his idea, and he believed that it would do several things,” Bessent said during his keynote address at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles.

“It would create more leverage for him with the Russian leadership when it was time to go to them. So the idea was, start with Ukraine, sign a deal that shows that there is no daylight between the US and Ukrainian people,” he said.

“It would be a symbol to Ukrainian people that the US is still there.”

Bessent inked the agreement April 30 with Ukraine Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, establishing a 50/50 joint fund that will be filled with revenue from new licenses from oil, gas and mineral projects on Ukrainian soil.

Trump has suggested the future monies could be used to recoup at least some of the billions the US sent to Ukraine to help fight off Russia’s 38-month-old invasion.

The Treasury secretary first went to Ukraine in mid-February in hopes of getting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to sign the agreement, but went away unsuccessful.

Zelensky was then ready to sign the deal when he came to Washington on Feb. 28 to talk to Trump, but that fell through after a blowup in the Oval Office involving Zelensky, Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

“Sometimes with a blow-up, you wind up with a better deal,” Bessent told his audience at the Beverly Hilton. “What was going to be signed that day was actually just a four-page memorandum of understanding.

“After that blow-up, we at Treasury made the decision to try to make the blow-up into an opportunity and I instructed my team to go straight to writing the full agreement, which is six different agreements [spanning] hundreds of pages.”

Bessent added that the deal was put back on track after Trump and Zelensky met face-to-face ahead of the funeral of Pope Francis April 26, which the Treasury chief described as “a sort of recovery of trust.”

“I think it’s win-win,” he summed up the partnership, adding that “what it is not is one of these rapacious Chinese deals.”

The White House has said the minerals deal will act as a security guarantee, given the American investment in the war-torn country.

Russia and Ukraine have still not begun peace talks amid the Trump administration’s efforts to bring both sides to the table, and top officials, including the president, are beginning to get frustrated at the lack of movement.