Why the Trump administration may want Ukraine's minerals

The quick answer could be they're used in a lot of other things, too.

Ukraine's mineral wealth

Countries vary in which minerals they deem strategically critical. The U.S. Department of the Interior has designated 50, and Ukraine has more than 20 of those.

Deposits of titanium, which is in high demand, are spread across the country. Titanium is used for making aircraft wings and other aerospace manufacturing, for marine uses, chemical processing and medical devices.

Ukraine has lithium, key to several current battery technologies, and it has uranium, used for nuclear power, medical equipment and weapons.

The country also has graphite and manganese, both used in batteries for electric vehicles.

Still, the data on Ukraine's geology is incomplete, according to Tom Moerenhout, adjunct associate professor at Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. The maps date back to when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union, which dissolved in 1991. So it's not clear how easy or profitable it will be to get the desired materials out of the ground.

"It's one thing to have a deal that talks about how might we manage their extraction and their revenue," Moerenhout said of the agreement. "It's another thing entirely to actually have extractive projects, to actually have mining operations going on, and that is something that the deal does not guarantee."

Some of the mineral riches lie in parts of the country currently occupied by Russia.

Ukraine's rare earth metals

Rare earths are a subset of critical minerals; there are 17 of them, and not one is a common word. For example, ytterbium and promethium are rare earths.

Rare earths are important for many kinds of technology and electronics, including medical care, military, aerospace as well as clean energy uses.

Ytterbium is used in infrared lasers, chemical reactions, rechargeable batteries and fiber optics. Lanthanum is used in batteries, specialty glass for eyeglasses and and camera lenses and in petroleum refining. A single piece of military equipment can require hundreds of pounds of a rare earth.

Contrary to their name, rare earths are not necessarily rare. However, they do often occur in low concentrations, making processing complicated. It's mainly China that excels at this processing currently.

Geopolitical reasons for interest in Ukraine's supply

The Trump administration has steered clear of clean energy policy in favor of its "energy dominance" agenda, focused on oil and gas. As promised during his campaign, the president's early executive orders slashed support for climate- and clean-energy related technologies, funding and programs.

Electric vehicles, wind turbines, solar photovoltaic panels and other clean energy technology require the rare earths for components such as magnets and batteries; broadly, renewable energy and decarbonization are placing high demand on minerals across the globe.

But clearly, the uses of the minerals Ukraine has go far beyond the energy transition. And Ukraine has tried hard to interest the new administration in its mineral wealth.

Also, China controls much of the world's supply of these materials. Opening access to Ukraine's supply could reduce U.S. dependence elsewhere.

"To the credit of the first Trump administration, they have always put critical minerals as a very important policy priority because they knew they were so heavily reliant on China," Moerenhout said. "That priority for the Trump administration doesn't change at all because they are less, let's say, less aggressive about clean energy deployment targets in the future."