U.S., Ukraine Near Closing Military Financing Mineral Rights Deal

In a recent nightly address to his nation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested Ukraine and The United States are near closing a mineral-based financing deal. Zelensky said the initial proposal included around $100 billion in military and financial support for exchanging $500 billion worth of minerals. Zelensky found the demand for $500bn in minerals by the Trump administration to be excessive due to the U.S.’s cumulative contribution of aid to Ukraine since the start of the war was about $100bn. Ukraine claims it has Europe’s largest reserves of titanium, lithium, and rare earth metals, all critical metals to manufacture advanced defense systems, high-tech devices, and modern automobiles.

Based on our recent note, “Are tariffs effective long term? Well, it depends...”, we see this as an opportunity for the U.S. to shore up supply chain concerns for key U.S. industries that would make the current Administration’s tariff strategy appear more feasible in the short run; however, in the long run, we are unsure as global supply chains will transition in the tariff era.
#kco #kconews #tariffs #supplychain #UkraineWar