Donald Trump views himself as the ultimate dealmaker.

But his much-touted mineral agreement with Ukraine — which would give the US access to Kyiv's extensive raw material reserves — could end up yielding much less than he bargained for.

www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-bad-mineral-deal-ukraine-volodymyr-zelenskyy/

February 27, 2025 - 09:10 UTC

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Problem No. 1: Assessments of Ukraine's reserves of critical raw materials are largely based on often incomplete Soviet-era assessments from the 1960s-1980s.

It means we don't know how extensive Ukraine's mineral riches actually are, and how hard it would be to make the mines viable.
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Problem No. 2: Extracting minerals takes time and costs money, especially in a country whose basic infrastructure (think roads, factories, power plants) has been decimated by the war.

Ukraine's recovery and reconstruction costs are estimated at $524B — a sum many private investors would balk at.
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What the fuck he was right about?
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Like a thief who claims to work for what they have.
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Give me one, just one, good deal Trump is responsable for
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Didn’t Ivana keep the kids?
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Problem No. 5: Trump is likely prepared to break any deal made and throw Ukraine to the wolves.
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As long as Zelensky is able to outsmart Trump, for the benefit of Ukraine and throwing out Russian military from their territory, it's fine with me.
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Good thread.

I think it's urgent Europe also takes another view into account.

This US gov is aggressively and ideologically opposed to European liberalism.

This deal may be about more than minerals.

It could give Trump vast new strategic influence over and within Europe.

Huge risks.
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That’s the art of the deal for ya
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This deal isn’t about mineral rights it codifies trumps position of no security support for Ukraine (with Zelenskyy agreement if he signs). Then when Russia overruns because of ended US support - US and Russia carve it up.
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Every Trump deal is either about personal profit or PR. Look at it that way and I bet it adds up.
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Trump acts before he thinks! 🤔 hmmm Think that’s called BACKWARDS THINKING…
Just saying🤔
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this all looks so bizarre to me. russia invades ukraine and destroys large parts of its infrastrucure. and now russia and the us are talking about how to best exploit this situation that wouldn't have been a situation had putin stayed in his country.
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He doesn’t actually care what the US gets when he’s gone. It’s always just optics, image, and money in his pocket. His buddies who donated money to him wanted access to the minerals and he has a PR piece. Total win in his mind.
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