Trump wants ‘rare earth metals’ from Ukraine

US President Donald Trump wants rare earth metals from Ukraine in exchange for aid, correspondent Stuart Smith reports.

Transcript

00:00What kind of metal is Donald Trump referring to?

00:04How valuable are they?

00:06And what is he expecting to actually use them for?

00:09Well, he explicitly talked about rare earth metals,

00:12which are a set of metals that aren't actually that rare,

00:15but they are found only in certain geographical locations.

00:18And what makes them special, especially now and looking ahead into the future,

00:22is they have some very unique electrochemical properties

00:25and magnetic properties that mean they're going to be really important

00:28for things like electric vehicles and motors,

00:31and also for renewable energy technology.

00:34They're also important in things like cancer drug treatment.

00:38Scandium, one of those, that's important there.

00:41And so while maybe one you've heard of, tungsten,

00:43others, many of them, you may not have.

00:46The reason Donald Trump might be interested in them is because

00:49China currently controls 70% of the world's supply of rare earth metals,

00:53and Ukraine has some too, but at the moment it can't get to them.

00:57So if Ukraine can get Donald Trump interested

01:00in potentially a deal based on providing rare earth metals,

01:04it may mean the U.S. is willing to provide more arms to Ukraine

01:07in order that it can get its territory back under control

01:10and then potentially sell those metals to the United States.