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Donald Trump has said a deal for Ukraine’s rare earth metals is “pretty close” and the US is targeting “anything we can get” in exchange for the aid it’s provided.

Mr Trump told a conference he was determined to get payback for billions of dollars of military hardware and other assistance.

However, a source has told Sky News that President Zelenskyy is not ready to accept the agreement that’s been drafted.

U.S. President Donald Trump reacts onstage during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) annual meeting in National Harbor, Maryland, U.S., February 22, 2025. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
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President Trump was the star draw at the CPAC conference in Maryland

“I want them to give us something for all the money we put up,” Mr Trump told the CPAC conference. “So we’re asking for rare earth and oil – anything we can get!”

He claimed European countries had given their aid as a loan but the US had not – meaning they were due some compensation.

“We’re going to get our money back because it’s not fair,” Mr Trump told the event in Maryland.

“And we will see, but I think we’re pretty close to a deal. We better be close to a deal”.

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Mr Trump claimed the US had given $350bn in aid, but some international bodies – such as Kiel’s Institute for the World Economy – estimate it’s around $120bn.

Rare earth metals are elements used in high-tech goods such as mobile phones and electric vehicles. Demand is increasing but there are concerns over future availability.

Mr Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, told the same conference on Friday that he also believed a deal would be struck.

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Despite US optimism, a Ukrainian source said an agreement was not yet close due to “a number of problematic issues”.

They said drafts did not “reflect a partnership in the agreement and contain only unilateral commitments by Ukraine“.

Kyiv is likely to be pressing for robust security guarantees from America in any future peace deal with Russia.

Mr Trump’s speech on Saturday evening spanned many subjects, taking numerous digs at opponents such as Joe Biden and heralding what he said were numerous achievements since he regained the White House.

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Meloni’s message to CPAC conference

He also shouted out visitors in the audience such as Reform leader Nigel Farage, calling him a “great guy”, and Argentinian President Javier Milei – who spoke to the conference in Spanish on Saturday.

Italian premier Giorgia Meloni, seen as a key Trump ally in Europe, also delivered a video message defending the political direction of the continent.

“I know you can perceive Europe as distant and lost, but I can tell you it’s not,” said Ms Meloni – who also reaffirmed support for Ukraine, saying it was resisting “a brutal aggression” from Russia.

President Trump repeated his optimism that a deal to end the war is possible under his watch, saying he was “dealing” with both the Ukrainian and Russian leaders.

“I’ve spoken to President Putin and I think that thing [the war] is going to end,” he told the conference.

Ukraine has insisted it won’t accept any deal agreed without its participation, after it was excluded from this week’s meeting between top US and Russian diplomats in Saudi Arabia.

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (L) meets U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine and Russia Keith Kellogg in Kyiv on Feb. 20, 2025. (Kyodo via AP Images) ==Kyodo
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Mr Zelenskyy hosted US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv this week. Pic: AP


Tensions have been rising in recent days between President Trump and President Zelenskyy.

The US leader referred to Mr Zelesnkyy as a “dictator”, apparently in response to the Ukrainian president saying Mr Trump was living in a Russian “disinformation space”.

Sir Keir Starmer again lent his unwavering backing to Ukraine’s leader in a phone call on Saturday.

Downing Street said the prime minister “reiterated his ironclad support” and “commitment to securing a just and enduring peace to bring an end to Russia’s illegal war”.

It comes days before Sir Keir and French President Emmanuel Macron head to Washington for tricky talks in which they must press Ukraine’s case while keeping the US leader onside.

President Trump told a radio show on Friday that the two European leaders “haven’t done anything” to end the war.

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Manhunt after couple hiking with their children killed in Arkansas park

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Manhunt after couple hiking with their children killed in Arkansas park

A manhunt is under way after a married couple were killed while hiking with their children in an Arkansas state park.

Clinton Brink, 43, and Cristen Brink, 41, were walking with their daughters, who are aged seven and nine, when they were attacked in Devil’s Den State Park on Saturday afternoon, according to Arkansas State Police.

Officers were called to reports of two people dead in the park at around 2.40pm, before their bodies were found on a walking trail.

Arkansas’s state lab are working to determine their cause of death, officials said.

Their children were not injured and are safe with relatives, authorities added.

A statement from the Brink family said the couple “died heroes, protecting their little girls”.

“They deserve justice. They will forever live in all our hearts,” the family added, asking for privacy as they “grieve and learn to navigate this new reality”.

The couple had only moved to Arkansas three weeks ago, having previously lived in California and eastern Montana, Mr Brink’s sister Karina Hutchins said.

Officials have not said how the couple were killed and have not provided a possible motive for the attack.

The suspect has been described as white, of medium build, and was wearing a long-sleeved shirt, a dark baseball cap, and sunglasses.

He was also carrying a black backpack and wearing fingerless gloves.

Police said he could have sustained injuries during the attack and exited the park in a black, four-door car, possibly a Mazda, with the number plate covered with duct tape.

He is then believed to have travelled on State Highway 170 or State Highway 220 to escape.

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Police have urged anyone who was in or near the park that day with smartphone or GoPro footage to come forward.

The park has been closed until further notice.

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Has Trump broken from Netanyahu over Gaza?

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Has Trump broken from Netanyahu over Gaza?

Sir Keir Starmer travelled to Scotland for talks with Donald Trump, with the US president publicly distancing himself from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has said there is no starvation in Gaza. How significant is this moment, as renewed UK-US aid efforts to the Strip are announced?

Plus, Trump cuts down Putin’s deadline to stop Russia’s war in Ukraine. And Martha speaks to one of the 252 Venezuelans deported by Trump to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. He describes brutal torture and dehumanisation – this despite not ever having committed a crime.

If you’ve got a question you’d like the Trump100 team to answer, you can email it to trump100@sky.uk.

You can also watch all episodes on our YouTube channel.

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US and EU agree trade deal – with bloc facing 15% tariffs on goods into America

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US and EU agree trade deal - with bloc facing 15% tariffs on goods into America

A number of European leaders have hit out at the terms of the United States and European Union trade deal.

Speaking after talks in Turnberry, Mr Trump told reporters it was the “biggest deal ever made” and will be “great for cars” as well as having a “big impact” on agriculture.

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the “big deal” would help bring “stability” to trade after months of turmoil over the threat of a trade war.

The US will impose 15% tariffs on most EU goods entering America, after Mr Trump had threatened a 30% levy.

But French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said of the terms: “It is a sombre day when an alliance of free peoples, brought together to affirm their common values and to defend their common interests, resigns itself to submission.”

Long-time EU critic, Hungarian PM Viktor Orban, responded: “This is not an agreement … Donald Trump ate von der Leyen for breakfast, this is what happened and we suspected this would happen as the U.S. president is a heavyweight when it comes to negotiations while Madame President is featherweight.”

President Trump shakes hands with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Turnberry. Pic: Reuters
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President Donald Trump shakes hands with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen in Turnberry. Pic: Reuters

Others welcomed news of an agreement but seemed resigned to the terms.

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The deal includes $600bn (£446bn) of EU investments in the US, and the bloc will buy $750bn (£558bn) of US energy and also purchase American military equipment.

Mr Trump said: “I think it’s great that we made a deal today instead of playing games and maybe not making a deal at all.”

He said: “We are agreeing that the tariff… for automobiles and everything else will be a straight across tariff of 15%.” However, the 15% baseline rate would not apply to steel and aluminium, for which a 50% tariff would stay in place.

Ms Von der Leyen said: “We have a trade deal between the two largest economies in the world and it’s a big deal, it’s a huge deal. It will bring stability, it will bring predictability, that’s very important for our businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.”

She said the agreement would include 15% tariffs “across the board”, and it would help rebalance trade between the two large trading partners.

She said the levy rate was the “best we could get” regarding the car sector.

But she added that there was “no decision” on the spirits sector, which was one of those areas where the details in the framework trade deal would have to be examined in the coming weeks.

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Mr Trump had earlier said the main sticking point was “fairness”, citing barriers to US exports of cars and agriculture.

He went into the talks demanding fairer trade with the 27-member bloc and threatening steep tariffs to achieve that, while insisting the US will not go below 15% import taxes.

For months, Mr Trump has threatened most of the world with large tariffs in the hope of shrinking major US trade deficits with many key trading partners, including the EU.

In case there was no deal and the US had imposed 30% tariffs from 1 August, the EU has prepared counter-tariffs on €93bn (£81bn) of US goods.

Ahead of their meeting on Sunday, Ms Von der Leyen described Mr Trump as a “tough negotiator and dealmaker”.

The deal mirrors parts of the framework agreement the US clinched with Japan last week.

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