Trump seeks to secure rare earths deal with Ukraine in exchange for aid

US President Donald Trump has said he wants to negotiate an agreement with Ukraine in which Kiev guarantees supplies of rare earth metals, key elements used in electronics, in exchange for aid.

"We're looking to do a deal with Ukraine, where they're going to secure what we're giving them with their rare earths and other things," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday.

Asked by one reporter if he wanted Ukraine to give the resources to the United States, Trump replied: "Yeah, I want to have security of rare earths."

Trump complained that the US is providing Ukraine with more economic and military aid than Europe and suggested Kiev is open to his proposal.

"We're telling Ukraine they have very valuable rare earth. We want what we put up to go in terms of a guarantee. We want a guarantee. We're handing them money hand over fist," he said. "We're putting in hundreds of billions of dollars."

Part of 'victory plan'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had floated such an idea last October as part of his "victory plan" for ending the war with Russia.

Zelenskyy, outlining his plan in October, said one part centred on protecting Ukraine's natural resources, "including critical metals worth trillions of US dollars."

He said he would urge Kiev's Western partners to secure a "special agreement on joint protection of critical resources available in Ukraine and joint investment and use of the corresponding economic potential."

Ukraine is sitting on massive reserves of critical rare earth minerals. It holds about 5 percent of the world's total mineral resources, according to a 2024 World Economic Forum report.

In addition to 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.