By Gram Slattery and Max Hunder
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will travel to Ukraine this week, Donald Trump wrote in a social media post on Tuesday, the latest in a flurry of U.S. officials heading to Europe in the coming days.
Bessent, who will be the first cabinet-level official in Trump’s administration to visit Ukraine, is set to discuss potential U.S. access to Ukraine’s rare earth mineral resources, according to one source with knowledge of the matter.
Both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Trump have expressed interest in a pact that would see the United States receive rare earths from Ukraine in exchange for continued support in fending off invasion from Russia.
A number of other U.S. officials traveling to Europe this week will discuss the Ukraine war with Kyiv and other European allies. They include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Keith Kellogg, the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine.
“The U.S. has spent BILLIONS of Dollars Globally, with little to show,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post announcing Bessent’s planned visit.
Rare earths are a group of metals used to make magnets that turn power into motion for electric vehicles, cell phones, missile systems, and other electronics. There are no viable substitutes, and demand is widely expected to grow.
Reuters reported this week that the Trump administration plans to push European allies to buy more American weapons for Ukraine ahead of potential peace talks with Moscow.
(Reporting by Gram Slattery and Max Hunder; Editing by Don Durfee, Frances Kerry and Nia Williams)