Trump says Zelenskyy to visit Washington on Friday to sign critical mineral deal

​​​​​​​By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - President Donald Trump said Wednesday that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will visit the White House on Friday to finalize a critical minerals agreement with the US.

"President Zelensky is going to be coming on Friday. That's now confirmed, and we're going to be signing an agreement, which will be a very big agreement," Trump told reporters as he convened his Cabinet for the first time since he assumed office last month.

Trump thanked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for their work on forging the agreement, which he said will include rights for Ukraine's rare earth minerals and other natural resources.

"The previous administration put us in a very bad position, but we've been able to make a deal where we're going to get our money back, and we're going to get a lot of money in the future. And I think that's appropriate, because we have taxpayers that shouldn't be footing the bill, and they shouldn't be putting the bill that more than the Europeans are paying," he said.

"So, it's all been worked out. We're happy about it, and I think that very importantly, we're going to be able to make a deal," he added.

Ukraine is sitting on massive reserves of critical rare earth minerals that could total trillions of dollars. It holds about 5% of the world’s total mineral resources, according to a 2024 World Economic Forum report.

Besides having one of the largest confirmed reserves of lithium, Ukraine boasts semiconductor-grade neon gas that is critical for chip production, beryllium, uranium, zirconium, apatite, iron ore and manganese.​​​​​​​