A press conference in the Oval Office with President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance, and Ukrainian President Zelensky turned contentious after Vance slammed Zelensky for campaigning with former Vice President Kamala Harris. The chaotic meeting appears to have squashed Zelensky’s opportunity to sign a mineral deal with the US.…
It’s really hard to think how this could’ve possibly gone worse. The whole thing started with Zelensky’s offhand suggestion of trading Ukrainian minerals for US aid which backfired catastrophically. Trump, ever the opportunist, seized on the proposal like a shark scenting blood. He initially framed it as Ukraine having to hand over minerals for future support, which he quickly turned into a demand for repayment of the $300 billion already spent, retroactively recasting aid as a loan.
By floating the minerals idea, Zelensky handed Trump a rhetorical weapon that let Trump box Ukraine into a lose-lose scenario of either surrendering resources or admitting to owing an unpayable debt. Zelensky got accustomed to Biden’s blank-check diplomacy, and completely misread the room here. Now, Trump has the perfect excuse to cut Ukraine loose. He will say that Zelensky lied about his willingness to make a deal, that he doesn’t appreciate US support, and that he was belligerent. The whole thing is an absolute debacle for Ukraine.
The US according to Powell can’t maintain this level of debt. Interest rates are high because nobody wants to buy US bonds, and you’ve got talk of BRICS ending trading oil in USD altogether. Its not like its just borrowed and the US has no repercussions, this is all future austerity.
If the status of the dollar collapses a reserve currency then the US will absolutely be in trouble. I think it’s going to be a little while yet before that happens, but I do agree we’re starting to see some initial signs of the process starting.
It’s really hard to think how this could’ve possibly gone worse. The whole thing started with Zelensky’s offhand suggestion of trading Ukrainian minerals for US aid which backfired catastrophically. Trump, ever the opportunist, seized on the proposal like a shark scenting blood. He initially framed it as Ukraine having to hand over minerals for future support, which he quickly turned into a demand for repayment of the $300 billion already spent, retroactively recasting aid as a loan.
By floating the minerals idea, Zelensky handed Trump a rhetorical weapon that let Trump box Ukraine into a lose-lose scenario of either surrendering resources or admitting to owing an unpayable debt. Zelensky got accustomed to Biden’s blank-check diplomacy, and completely misread the room here. Now, Trump has the perfect excuse to cut Ukraine loose. He will say that Zelensky lied about his willingness to make a deal, that he doesn’t appreciate US support, and that he was belligerent. The whole thing is an absolute debacle for Ukraine.
The US according to Powell can’t maintain this level of debt. Interest rates are high because nobody wants to buy US bonds, and you’ve got talk of BRICS ending trading oil in USD altogether. Its not like its just borrowed and the US has no repercussions, this is all future austerity.
If the status of the dollar collapses a reserve currency then the US will absolutely be in trouble. I think it’s going to be a little while yet before that happens, but I do agree we’re starting to see some initial signs of the process starting.
I’ve heard someone speculate he will remove tariffs if other country buy 100 year US bonds. This seems kind of plausible.
lol yeah that’s totally on brand