President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had planned to meet in Washington on Friday to mark a very publicized conclusion of economic negotiations to make the United States a partner in the development of natural resources in Ukraine.
But a remarkable oval office scene that saw the two leaders shout each other derail the signature of the economic pact.
The plan had been that the economic agreement was signed before an official press conference on Friday afternoon, but Zelensky left the White House after the heated exchange, and Trump posted online that “he can come back when he is ready for peace”.
Friday’s rally became acrimonious after vice-president JD Vance and Trump called Zelensky “disrespectful” in his remarks and not grateful to the United States, leading to a War of Words that journalists have watched it.
At one point, Trump told the Ukrainian: “You play with the Second World War”, then added: “It will be very difficult to do business like this”, while Zelensky tried to argue that aid to Ukraine is in the interest of America.
“You are not in good position at the moment,” said Trump at another time. “You don’t have the cards.”
President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have a stormy back and forth in the White House Oval Office on February 28 (Andrew Harnik / Getty Images) ·Andrew Harnik via getty images
He left the economic agreement – which would be finished but now unclear if he will never be signed – clearly in the limbo.
It is a plan that, According to the text disclosed, Would establish a “reconstruction investment fund to deepen the partnership between the United States of America and Ukraine” in the context of an effort so that the United States is taking interest in the maintenance “of a long-term financial commitment to the development of a stable and economically prosperous Ukraine”.
“It’s really important,” said Zelensky in a fresher moment, “for the safety of the European continent.”
But if the leaders return to the agreement are now very in the air with the two chances of an economic or peaceful peace agreement.
“I do not know if we can do business again with Zelensky,” proposed Senator Lindsey Graham, who has long been one of the strongest defenders of the Ukraine GOP, after playing. He calls the Ukranian leader a “bad investment” and suggested that he should apologize to Trump.
It was not immediately in the direction with Zelensky publication on social networks To thank Trump for the visit and his support while adding “Ukraine needs just and lasting peace, and we work exactly for that”.
In the days preceding the meeting, Trump being Trump, the president had concluded his economic agreement and said that the signature would constitute a wholesale economic reorganization of the region.
“It’s like a huge economic development project,” he said before Zelensky, “so it will be good for both countries.”
“He is really a winner-win because he brings the Ukrainian people closer and the community of American affairs,” added the Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in a recent appearance of the Fox Business Network. “It shows the American people that there are here for them.”
The pact aimed to give American companies a key role in the development of Ukraine mineral exploitation such as lithium and titanium. Trump has also described the presence of companies in Ukraine as a de facto security guarantee because he has repeatedly excluded the use of American troops.
And then the Government of Ukraine, as the agreement described, would contribute 50% of future income from a wide range of natural resources belonging to the government – from oil and gas to minerals to infrastructure assets – to the fund, with the United States providing financial support.
US President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House Oval Bureau on Friday. (Images Andrew Harnik / Getty) ·Andrew Harnik via getty images
But Friday’s display of acrimony between the two leaders immediately raised questions and was perhaps an indication of the limits of the power of economic diplomacy for Trump.
“It will be a difficult affair to conclude because attitudes must change,” said Trump at another animated moment on Friday.
The bad blood between the two leaders extends over the years, including a recent push that saw Trump call Zelensky a “dictator without elections” (while refusing to say the same thing about Vladimir Putin) and Zelensky shooting that Trump lives in a “Russian disinformation space”.
This week’s visit marked Zelensky’s fifth visit to the White House, but his first since Trump resumed his duties in January. Zelensky met Trump in Paris in December and also spoke to Trump by phone earlier this month.
The rare earths are of interest to Trump and American companies, many of these minerals underlying modern electronics. But we do not know how many people will be accessible quickly if an agreement is never signed, many reservations of Ukraine being in the territory currently held by Russia.
And a recent American geological investigation Report on rare earth elements Underlined a global landscape where Ukraine is a smaller player. China is the clear leader, holding around 44 million tonnes of rare land reserves – representing almost half of the world’s mobile supply.
Ben Werschkul is Washington correspondent for Yahoo Finance.
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