Scholz calls Trump ‘selfish’ over Ukraine demands

AlArabiya English

German Chancellor has labelled Donald Trump “selfish” after the US president demanded Ukraine’s rare earth metals in exchange for aid, correspondent Stuart Smith reports.

Transcript

00:00We've seen the Trump administration freeze billions in foreign aid.

00:05This has clearly worried countries like Ukraine,

00:08who have been relying on the support of the U.S.

00:11Is this the only way to keep support going by providing an exchange?

00:20Yeah, well, Olaf Scholz, the Chancellor of Germany,

00:23said that he thought this was a very selfish,

00:25very self-centred move and suggested Ukraine's going to need

00:28exactly these kinds of minerals once the war is over

00:31in order to try to rebuild.

00:33But it does appeal to the very transaction, businessman-like nature

00:36of Donald Trump's politics.

00:38Indeed, it was the Ukrainians that suggested it to him initially last year

00:41as one of the ways that potentially would keep him interested

00:44in Ukraine's survival for Russia's war in Ukraine.

00:49Now, one senior Ukrainian official speaking anonymously

00:52said that having a strategic U.S. interest in Ukraine

00:55is a key component to Ukraine's future.

00:58So it's something Ukraine is up for.

01:00It says it's ready to sign documents about joint agreements.

01:03But this is just Donald Trump riffing at the moment.

01:05There's no particular detail about what exactly he's suggesting here.

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