President Donald Trump said Monday that he was hopeful the United States and Ukraine will soon come to terms on a rare earth minerals deal after he met with fellow Group of Seven leaders for a virtual session on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Trump was joined at the White House by French President Emmanuel Macron for the meeting, and the two leaders were holding bilateral talks to discuss the situation in Ukraine. The talks come at a moment of deep uncertainty about the future of transatlantic relations, with Trump transforming American foreign policy and effectively tuning out European leadership as he looks to quickly end the war in Ukraine.
But Trump, a Republican, expressed optimism that the White House and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are nearing a deal that would give the U.S. access to Ukraine’s critical minerals to help repay the U.S. for more than $180 billion in American delivered to Kyiv since the start of the war in 2022. Ukraine is also looking for future security guarantees as part of any agreement.
“It looks like we’re getting very close,” Trump told reporters at the start of his bilateral meeting with Macron. He added that Zelenskyy could potentially visit Washington this week or next to sign the deal
Trump, however, did not say whether the emerging deal would include American security guarantees. “Europe is going to make sure nothing happens,” he said.
The anniversary — and talks — come at an unnerving moment for much of Europe witnessing a dramatic shift in American foreign policy with Trump’s return to power.
Trump also has made demands for territory — Greenland, Canada, Gaza and the Panama Canal — as well as precious rare earth minerals from Ukraine. Just over a month into his second term, the “America First” president has cast an enormous shadow over what veteran U.S. diplomats and former government officials had regarded as America’s calming presence of global stability and continuity.
“We have necessity to have guarantees for solid peace,” Macron said at the start of the bilateral meeting. “This is very important moment for Europe as well.”
Despite some notable hiccups, the military, economic and moral power of the United States has dominated the post-World War II era, most notably after the Cold War came to an end with the collapse of the Soviet Union. All of that, some fear, may be lost if Trump gets his way and the U.S. abandons the principles under which the United Nations and numerous other international bodies were founded.
“The only conclusion you can draw is that 80 years of policy in standing up against aggressors has just been blown up without any sort of discussion or reflection,” said Ian Kelly, a U.S. ambassador to Georgia during the Obama and first Trump administration and now a professor at Northwestern University.
Visits start on anniversary of war in Ukraine
Trump is set to hold a meeting Thursday with another key European leader, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
The talks come after Trump shook Europe with repeated criticism of Zelenskyy for failing to negotiate an end to the war and rebuffing a push to sign off on a deal giving the U.S. access to Ukraine’s rare earth minerals, which could be used in the American aerospace, medical and tech industries.
European leaders also were dismayed by Trump’s decision to dispatch top aides for preliminary talks with Russian officials in Saudi Arabia without Ukrainian or European officials at the table.
Meanwhile, the United States on Monday failed to get the U.N. General Assembly to approve its resolution urging an end to the war without mentioning Moscow’s aggression. The assembly approved a dueling European-backed Ukrainian resolution demanding Russia immediately withdraw from Ukraine.
On the minerals deal, Zelenskyy initially bristled, saying it was short on security guarantees for Ukraine. He said Sunday on X that “we are making great progress“ but noted that “we want a good economic deal that will be part of a true security guarantee system for Ukraine.”
Trump administration officials say they expect to reach a deal this week that would tie the U.S. and Ukrainian economies closer together — the last thing that Russia wants.
It follows a public spat, with Trump calling Zelenskyy a “dictator” and falsely charging Kyiv with starting the war. Russia, in fact, invaded its smaller and lesser-equipped neighbor in February 2022.
Zelenskyy, who said Sunday in response to a question that he would trade his office for peace or to join NATO, then angered Trump by saying the U.S. president was living in a Russian-made “disinformation space.” Confronting Trump might not be the best approach, analysts say.
“The response to President Trump doing something to you is not to do something back right away. You tend to get this kind of reaction,” said retired Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
High-stakes talks between European and U.S. leaders
Macron said he intended to tell Trump it’s in the joint interest of Americans and Europeans not to show weakness to Putin during U.S.-led negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. He also suggested he’ll make the case that how Trump handles Putin could have enormous ramifications for U.S. dealings with China, the United States’ most significant economic and military competitor.
“You can’t be weak in the face of President Putin. It’s not you, it’s not your trademark, it’s not in your interest,” Macron said on social media ahead of the visit. “How can you then be credible in the face of China if you’re weak in the face of Putin?’”
Yet, Trump has shown a considerable measure of respect for the Russian leader. Trump said this month he’d like to see Russia rejoin what is now the Group of Seven major economies. Russia was suspended from the G8 after Moscow’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region.
Trump dismissed Zelenskyy’s complaints about Ukraine and Europe not being included in the opening of U.S.-Russia talks, suggesting he’s been negotiating “with no cards, and you get sick of it.”
–AP writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Chris Megerian contributed reporting.