Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said President Donald Trump is creating a "win-win" partnership between the United States and Ukraine as discussions deepen over access to the country’s rare earth minerals.
Bessent sat down with Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier for an interview Tuesday from the Cash Room at the Treasury Department days after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
"Part of my trip was to go and tell the Ukrainian people that we wanted an economic partnership with them," he said on "Special Report."
"So, President Trump's vision is — [to] bring the Ukrainian people and the American people closer together economically, show the Ukrainian people that we support them, show the American people that the money that is going into Ukraine, that there is going to be a return, that there's going to be a long-term partnership."
The United States has sent billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion nearly three years ago.
The Trump administration is seeking to recoup the cost of aid sent to the war-torn country by gaining access to rare earth minerals like titanium, iron and uranium.
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Bessent gave Zelenskyy a document when they met last week that reportedly proposed the United States being granted 50% ownership of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals.
Zelenskyy declined to sign the proposed agreement, telling the Associated Press in Munich that it didn't provide enough security guarantees for his country.
"I didn’t let the ministers sign a relevant agreement because, in my view, it is not ready to protect us, our interest," Zelenskyy said. "For me [it] is very important the connection between some kind of security guarantees and some kind of investment."
A major roadblock in the rare earth negotiations is the location of some of the minerals, which are in Russian-occupied areas in eastern Ukraine.
Bessent said he believes Zelenskyy will come around to the proposal because it’s a long-term agreement that's "very beneficial to their security."
"It pulls Ukrainian and the American interests closer together. It's a very strong signal to the Russians that we take our interest in Ukraine very seriously," he said, adding that the American people will know they are getting a return on investment if the Trump administration sends more money to Ukraine.
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"When this conflict ends, it will act as a deterrent to further Russian aggression," the treasury secretary claimed, citing U.S. interests on the ground.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz met with high-ranking Russian officials in Saudi Arabia to discuss steps to end Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war. Ukraine was not invited to the negotiations.
Trump on Tuesday responded to criticism that Ukraine wasn’t at the meeting in Riyadh, taking aim at Zelenskyy for not negotiating a deal since the full-scale invasion began.
"Well, you’ve been there for three years. You should have ended it — three years. You should have never started it. You could have made a deal," he told reporters.