Trump made the announcement at the start of the first Cabinet meeting of his second term, hailing the deal as "a very big agreement."
The Republican president has long complained that the United States has spent too much taxpayer money to support Ukraine in the war with Russia that began when the Kremlin invaded three years ago. Trump has framed the emerging deal that would give the U.S. access to Ukraine's deposits of so-called rare earth minerals — used in the aerospace, defense and nuclear industries — as a chance for Kyiv to pay back the U.S. for aid already sent for the war effort under Democrat President Joe Biden.
"The previous administration put us in a very bad position, but we've been able to make a deal where we're going to get the money back and a lot of money in the future," Trump said.