Trump says US to sign rare earth minerals deal with Ukraine 'very shortly'

WASHINGTON -- US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he will sign a rare earth minerals deal with Ukraine "very shortly."

"We are doing good work with Ukraine and Russia. And one of the things we are doing is signing a deal very shortly with respect to rare earth with Ukraine," the president said.

Trump made the remarks shortly after he signed an executive order to invoke emergency powers to "dramatically increase production of critical minerals and rare earths."

"We're also signing agreements in various locations to unlock rare earths and minerals and lots of other things all over the world, but in particular Ukraine," Trump said.

He said last month that he asked Ukraine to provide the United States rare earth worth $500 billion.

"I told them [Ukraine] that I want the equivalent like $500B worth of rare earth. And they've essentially agreed to do that so at least we don't feel stupid," Trump said in an interview with Fox News at the time.

Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were scheduled to sign a deal at the end of February in Washington that would grant Washington access to Ukraine's mineral deposits.

However, the deal remained unsigned after Zelensky's meeting in the Oval Office with Trump and his deputy JD Vance turned into a heated exchange.