The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has criticized the conditions imposed by the American president, Donald Trump, to continue military aid to Ukraine in exchange for access to its raw materials.
Trump concretely conditioned the military support to Ukraine in exchange for receiving the so-called ‘rare earths’, a group formed by around fifteen metals used in the automotive industry, telecommunications and other electronic devices.
“We are looking to reach an agreement with Ukraine, where they secure what we are giving them with their ‘rare earths’ (…) We are putting hundreds of billions of dollars. They have excellent ‘rare earths’. I want their security and they are willing to give it,” the American leader stated.
In response, and in an interview with the RND media network, Scholz stated that “Ukraine is being attacked and we are on its side without being paid for it, and that should be the attitude of everyone.”
Trump’s demand “would be very selfish, very egocentric,” Scholz had previously said after an informal European Union summit in Brussels.
The chancellor also renewed his criticism of Trump’s tariff policy by insisting that “the global economy needs fewer trade barriers” at a moment when the American president has again pointed to the EU as a target for a tariff increase.
If that happened, “the EU Commission is able to react within hours,” the German chancellor stressed, who is running for reelection in the early elections on February 23.
Scholz has stated, however, that he will continue to do everything in his power to maintain good relations with Washington, with the United States being Germany’s most important ally.
The chancellor added that, however, as the leader of the largest country in the EU, he believes that it is his duty to take a firm stand when a smaller state such as Denmark is challenged, for example, in light of Trump’s threats to occupy Greenland.
