US Treasury Secretary to visit Ukraine this week for talks on critical minerals deal, Bloomberg reports

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will visit Ukraine this week to discuss a potential deal between Kyiv and Washington on critical minerals, Bloomberg reported on Feb. 11, citing undisclosed sources.

In recent days, U.S. President Donald Trump suggested that new aid shipments could depend on trade deals the U.S. negotiates with Ukraine. On Feb. 3, Trump said he wanted to provide Ukraine with weapons and aid in exchange for “rare earths and other things."

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said he is open to an arrangement that would grant U.S. companies access to Ukraine’s rare earth mineral reserves in exchange for continued support from Washington.

Bessent will be the first representative of the new U.S. administration after Trump’s return to the White House.

Zelensky previously announced that some high-profile people from Trump’s team would visit Ukraine this week before the Munich Security Conference, which starts on Feb. 14.

The Presidential Office also said previously that Ukraine is preparing to host Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, in February.

According to sources in Ukraine’s President’s Office, cited by RBC-Ukraine, Kellogg will visit Ukraine on Feb. 20 after the Munich Security Conference.

Trump signs 25% tariff on steel, aluminum imports; Ukraine’s economy to feel the effect

First Deputy Prime Minister and Economic Development Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said that the decision to impose tariffs will naturally affect Ukraine’s steel industry.

The Kyiv IndependentTim Zadorozhnyy