People’s Deputy Kravchuk: Americans do not want minerals to fall into the hands of China

People’s Deputy Kravchuk: Americans do not want minerals to fall into the hands of China

Ukraine will gain economic benefits from investments, but it should appear as payment for the support provided.

Ukrainian Parliament member Yevheniya Kravchuk believes that Ukraine will be able to defend its interests in the deal with the United States regarding rare earth metals. She expressed this opinion on the air of "Espreso".

"Firstly, we have not yielded, and President Zelenskyy has taken a very clear position. Notice that if we want to quote this next post on Trump’s Truth Social, he calls it (the deal, - ed.) an economic partnership. And now he talks about tens of billions of dollars, not 500 billion, but tens of billions of dollars, and also ’helping the Ukrainian economy grow.’ Already an economic partnership. So it’s obvious that Ukraine will be guided by national interests, but we must understand what rare earth metals are. It’s not something you can just dig up in your backyard and find immediately. These are very expensive investments. These are important metals used in various space technologies and productions, but with us, they are deeply buried. Therefore, these are significant investments, and then the ore needs to be enriched, because it’s the same principle. So, in fact, these are investments. And Ukraine, obviously, couldn’t do it on its own," she said.

Yevheniya Kravchuk noted that it’s necessary to find a balance between economic partnership so that everyone feels some benefit. Ukraine will receive economic benefits from investments, but this should have the appearance of payment for the support provided. 

"When Congress voted, it wasn’t a decision made by Biden, or the previous president, Congress voted, there were no conditions that something had to be exchanged for that. This is, let’s say, a kind of Trump innovation. But on the other hand, to attract the interest of Americans so that they then think: ’Aha, maybe next to this mining some air defence system should be placed, it would probably be worth it.’ And besides, this is also about the fact that Americans don’t want these minerals to fall into the hands of China. Because, actually, China is the largest producer currently on its territory and has certain agreements with African countries, although to a much lesser extent. So there’s also a question of ensuring that neither Russia nor China captures this. But overall, I absolutely believe that Ukraine will manage to defend its interests to the maximum. And I think it’s also a good reason for President Zelenskyy to finally meet with President Trump," the parliament member believes.