U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration is demanding the “right of first offer” on investments in all infrastructure and natural resources projects under a revised partnership deal with Ukraine.
That’s according to a draft of the document obtained by Bloomberg News, Ukrinform reports.
The U.S. is pushing to control all major future infrastructure and mineral investments in Ukraine, potentially gaining a veto over any role for Kyiv’s other allies and undermining its bid for European Union membership.
“If accepted, the partnership agreement would bestow enormous power on the U.S. to control investments into Ukraine in projects including roads and railways, ports, mines, oil and gas and extraction of critical minerals. It would represent an unprecedented expansion of U.S. economic influence in Europe’s largest country by area just at the time when it’s attempting to align with the EU,” the article reads.
The agreement would grant the U.S. first claim on profits transferred into a special reconstruction investment fund that would be controlled by Washington. Crucially, the document states that the U.S. regards the “material and financial benefits” provided to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 as its contribution to that fund.
In effect, this would mean the Trump administration would compel Ukraine to pay for all of the U.S. military and economic support provided since the start of the war before Kyiv received any income from the partnership fund.
According to the draft document, the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) would control the investment fund by nominating three of five board members and holding a “golden share” that gave it special voting rights to block certain decisions. Ukraine would name the other two and be prevented from intervening in the fund’s day-to-day management.
The government in Kyiv would be required to put 50% of its earnings from all the new natural resources and infrastructure projects into the fund. The U.S. would have the right to all of the profit plus a 4% annual return until its investment had been recovered, the draft stated.
Ukraine would be obliged to present all projects to the fund for review “as early as practicable,” with the DFC gaining board seats or oversight on all funded programs. Kyiv would be barred from offering rejected projects to other parties with “materially better” terms for at least one year.
In addition, according to the draft, the U.S. government would have the right to purchase Ukraine’s metals, minerals and oil and gas ahead of other parties on commercial terms, regardless of whether the fund was financing the project.
The deal, which has no time limit, also forbids Kyiv from selling critical minerals to countries that are “strategic competitors” of the U.S.
Discussions are continuing between the two sides and the final draft may contain revisions to the terms. Ukraine will likely respond to the U.S. document with its own amendments this week, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg News.
Ukraine has previously said that a deal with the U.S. must not conflict with its association agreement with the EU.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday, March 25, that the U.S. had proposed the text of a large-scale minerals deal. Earlier, the parties considered a draft framework agreement.
Photo: Bloomberg
Source: Trump administration seeks to control Ukraine investment, squeezing out Europe – Bloomberg
