President Donald Trump on Friday said his administration is "pretty close" to striking a deal with Ukraine for rights to access its natural resources in exchange for the United States' billions of dollars in support for the country against Russia.
"You know, I think they want it, and they feel good about it," Trump told reporters on Friday in the Oval Office after the swearing-in ceremony of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. "And it's significant. It's a big deal. But they want it, and it keeps us in that country. And they're very happy about it.
"We get our money back. They should have been signed long before we went in. They should have been signed by Biden. But Biden didn't know too much about what he was doing. The war should have never happened, No. 1. When it did happen, it could have been settled.
"The first week or two weeks after that, it got bad. It got really bad, but it should have been, it should have never happened. And it should have been settled, and it could have been settled very easily at the beginning. Now it's tougher, but we'll get it settled."
TRUMP CALLS UKRAINE'S ZELENSKYY A 'DICTATOR WITHOUT ELECTIONS' AS RIFT WIDENS
During his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Friday, Trump's National Security Advisor, Mike Waltz, said, "Here's the bottom line: President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is going to sign that deal, and you will see that in the very short term."
Waltz also told "Fox & Friends" this week that Ukraine should "tone down" its criticism of Trump and "come back to the table" to work out an economic deal with the U.S.
The deal for U.S. access to Ukraine's rare earth minerals is part of broader negotiations to end the war in Ukraine after Russia invaded the country in 2022.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News Wednesday Trump is creating a "win-win" partnership between the United States and Ukraine with the deal days after meeting with Zelenskyy in Kyiv.
"Part of my trip was to go and tell the Ukrainian people that we wanted an economic partnership with them," Bessent told Bret Baier on "Special Report."
"So, President Trump's vision is [to] bring the Ukrainian people and the American people closer together economically, show the Ukrainian people that we support them, show the American people that the money that is going into Ukraine, that there is going to be a return, that there's going to be a long-term partnership."
REPUBLICAN SENATORS BACK TRUMP'S DEMAND FOR UKRAINE ELECTIONS, BUT WON'T CALL ZELENSKYY 'DICTATOR'
The Trump administration is seeking to recoup the cost of aid sent to the war-torn country by gaining access to rare earth minerals like titanium, iron and uranium.
The delay also comes amid rising tensions between Trump and Zelenskyy as the U.S. works with Russian officials to broker a peace deal in the ongoing war.
Trump argued on Fox News Zelenskyy has "no cards" to negotiate leverage for a deal as the pair have publicly hurled insults at one another in recent days.
"I've been watching this man for years now as his cities get demolished, as his people get killed, as his soldiers get decimated," Trump told Fox News co-host Brian Kilmeade.
"I've been watching him negotiate with no cards. He has no cards, and you get sick of it," he added. "You just get sick of it, and I've had it."
Trump argued Zelenskyy is a poor negotiator, noting Bessent traveled to Ukraine last week to broker a mineral agreement, worth hundreds of billions of dollars, but said the pair "couldn't even come close" to a deal.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The president said the trip was dangerous for Bessent and a waste of time.
The deal would have helped U.S. investment in the war-torn nation and also provided "the best security guarantee they could ever hope for," according to Waltz.
Fox News' Bailee Hill contributed to this report.
