The subsoil deal proposed by Trump to Ukraine resembles Belgium’s exploitation of Congo in the 19th century – Bloomberg

Deal on natural resources proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump to Ukraine resembles 19th-Century Belgian exploitation of Congo.

This is written by Bloomberg columnist Mark Champion.

“The Trump administration is exploiting Ukraine’s moment of greatest dependency to impose a resource extraction contract. This deal was recently revised in a way reminiscent of Belgium’s exploitation of Congo in the 19th century — all while offering Ukraine no security guarantees. It’s being done in the name of helping Ukraine, but the end result would be the exclusion of Europe from Ukraine’s economic future and would cripple its postwar recovery, without assuming any responsibility for its defense,” the author writes.

In his view, both Russia and the U.S. are now “attacking” Ukraine from two sides under the principle of “unrestricted domination by the strong.”

The Washington Post previously reported that the proposed U.S. deal on Ukraine’s natural resources appears as if Ukraine has lost a war and is being forced to pay reparations to the U.S.

Earlier, Trump allegedly threatened Zelensky with “big problems” if he refused to sign the deal.

The U.S. president also implied that Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO would come in exchange for agreeing to the “harsh” resource extraction deal.