Trump wanted full control over Ukrainian ports

The draft agreement provided for the transfer of influence over the extraction of minerals, oil and gas assets and even the ports of Ukraine to the American side.

The United States sought to gain control not only over the mineral resources of Ukraine, but also over ports and strategic infrastructure “in exchange for military assistance”. This is reported by The Telegraph.

According to the material, the conditions proposed by the United States actually provided for “economic colonization”, and the financial burden that the United States wanted to impose on Ukraine is compared to the reparations imposed on Germany after the First World War.

The document provided for the creation of a joint investment fund between the United States and Ukraine to manage resources, including mineral deposits, oil, gas, as well as ports and other critical infrastructure. In addition, the agreement stated that the United States would receive 50% of revenues from the extraction of minerals in Ukraine and half of the cost of new licenses issued to third parties for the development of deposits.

A separate clause of the agreement gave the US a priority right to purchase exported Ukrainian minerals, and the joint fund was given the authority to independently determine the criteria for granting future licenses and the terms of their implementation.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the agreement did not meet Ukraine’s interests and needed to be revised. After a meeting with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessant on February 12, he refused to sign it. CNN and Reuters confirmed that Ukraine had submitted its proposals for a new version of the bilateral agreement to Washington.

As USM wrote, Trump had previously imposed a 25% tariff on steel imports and canceled the duty-free regime for Ukraine.