In 2015, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump warned during his campaign against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that Russia’s 2014 limited invasion of Ukraine, which happened under President Barack Obama, was a warning sign Europe should take seriously.
As a policy matter, Trump called for NATO countries to live up to their treaty obligations and appropriate two percent of their budgets to defense. Many of them threw tantrums, worried their precious socialist states would be starved of entitlements, while those in Eastern Europe had already been doing so with Russia at their borders.
When Trump was inaugurated in January 2017, Russia’s incursion into Ukraine was paused, but shortly after President Joe Biden arrived in 2021, Putin quickly got to work and invaded just one year later. Biden slow-walked the Ukrainian response, causing the front line of the war to sit stagnant for months on end. The Europeans still haven’t held up their obligations to NATO, again caught flat-footed in another example showing Trump’s warnings about a coming conflict were correct.
After three years of fighting and millions dead, Trump is back in office and the war is coming to a close.
With U.S. interests at the forefront of his plans, Trump has negotiated a good deal for America, Ukraine, and to end a stalemate for Russia with a critical mineral agreement — placing American miners in the region to drive economic growth.
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“The agreement establishes a reconstruction investment fund with joint U.S. and Ukraine ownership. Ukraine will contribute 50 percent of all revenues earned from the future monetization of all Ukrainian government-owned natural resource assets into the fund. This includes minerals deposits, oil, natural gas, and other relevant infrastructure, but, notably, it does not include resources that are already serving as a revenue source to Ukraine, such as the operations of Naftogaz and Ukrnafta, Ukraine’s largest oil and gas producers,” the Center for Strategic and International Studies explains.
“It's a pathway to peace. It's a pathway to getting something solved. I feel that as the head of this country that I have an obligation to do that,” Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with Zelenskyy on Friday. “It's too bad we got involved because there should've been no involvement because there should've been no war."
“I hope I'm going to be remembered as a peacemaker,” Trump said. "I’m doing this to save lives — more than anything else…this could lead to a third world war. This was headed in the wrong direction.”
Once again, Trump is using his private sector, business-driven mindset to bring peace to volatile regions of the world. It’s refreshing, out-of-the-box thinking that led to the historic Abraham Accords during his first term. This strategy could provide the beginning of America’s critical mineral dominance while also ushering in peace.
Editor's note: After a tense meeting at the Oval Office Friday, the minerals deal was not signed.
“We had a very meaningful meeting in the White House today. Much was learned that could never be understood without conversation under such fire and pressure. It’s amazing what comes out through emotion, and I have determined that President Zelenskyy is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations," Trump released in a statement on Truth Social after the Oval Office meeting. "I don’t want advantage, I want PEACE. He disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office. He can come back when he is ready for Peace," Trump released in a statement.
