Trump offers aid to Ukraine, but with great benefit to the US - Politico
Kyiv • UNN
Trump proposed a deal to Ukraine under which the US would receive half of the revenue from mineral extraction. This should compensate the US for its support of Ukraine, but limits its economic independence.
US President Donald Trump has offered Ukraine a deal under which the US would receive 50% of the revenues from the extraction of Ukrainian natural resources, including oil, gas, metals and critical minerals.
However, such a scheme should help the United States recoup the costs of supporting Ukraine, but at the same time may significantly limit the country's economic independence.
This is reported by Politico, writes UNN.
Details
According to Politico, the new agreement would allow the US to recover significantly more than the $120 billion that the Kiel Institute, a German think tank, estimates Americans actually spent on helping Kyiv between January 2022 and December 2024.
In particular, according to the latest version of the agreement, the US would receive half of the revenues from Ukrainian oil, gas and hydrocarbons, as well as almost all from its metals, critical minerals and "other extracted materials".
The US would also profit from any infrastructure related to natural resources, including roads, railroads, pipelines, ports, terminals and refineries. And the list goes on.
In addition, the US will receive all natural resource revenues and profits until Ukraine repays at least $100 billion in US military debt, with 4% added as the debt is repaid.
After that, Ukraine will eventually receive half of the profits and revenues from its own natural resources. However, when this will happen, as Politico writes, is unknown.
This is because the debt mentioned in the agreement, less than the $350 billion falsely claimed by Trump, is equivalent to 56 percent of Ukraine's GDP, excluding interest. However, the agreement contains no time limits and is, in fact, indefinite.
Politico compares Trump's deal to the unequal treaties that Western imperialist powers imposed on China in the 19th century. For example, the Treaty of Nanking in 1842 forced China to pay Britain a tribute, cede Hong Kong, and open its markets on unfavorable terms.
The treaty then set a template for a series of one-sided agreements that Western powers demanded of China, leading to expropriations, widespread looting, and undermining of sovereignty - terms that, to some extent, explain Beijing's current geopolitical grievances and its determination to destroy the Western order.
According to the media, the main difference between these unequal treaties and Trump's mineral extraction agreement is that they were imposed on an adversary after military victories, not a supposed ally.
In addition, Politico writes that Trump is not demanding "military reparations" - payments to compensate for damages caused by a defeated aggressor. But he is acting like a military speculator, immorally taking advantage of the moment to profit.
Trump threatens Zelenskyy over mineral deal31.03.25, 04:32 • 101276 views
In 2022, former US President Joe Biden invoked former US President Roosevelt's program by signing the Lend-Lease Act to Protect Democracy in Ukraine, which provides military, economic and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine to defend itself against the Russian Federation.
Trump, however, as Politico reports, does not see a personal benefit in helping allies, instead repeating that the US is safe thanks to a "big, beautiful ocean".
But Roosevelt did not believe in this. For example, in a radio broadcast in December 1940, where he presented the idea that America would become the "great arsenal of democracy," he warned that the country could not stand aside:
Some of us like to believe that even if Britain falls, we will still be safe because of the vastness of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
However, in his opinion, modern technologies have already effectively shortened the distances across these oceans.
Roosevelt's Lend-Lease agreements provided for the repayment of debt not with money or returned equipment, but rather required "joint action aimed at creating a liberalized international economic order in the post-war world."
However, as Politico writes, this will not work for Trump, because he wants to destroy the order that Roosevelt laid the foundation for.
