Ukraine agrees minerals deal in bid to improve US ties

Today’s agenda: Tax cut win for Trump; EU sticks to climate goals; a deep dive into the anti-vax movement; and the ex-Goldman banker who became Putin’s dealmaker

Good morning. We start today with a look at the latest development in the Ukraine-US relationship: Kyiv has agreed to sign a deal to jointly explore mineral resources, after some changes to Washington’s original proposal.

What’s in the latest deal: The final agreement seen by the Financial Times establishes a fund into which Ukraine would contribute 50 per cent of proceeds from the “future monetisation” of state-owned mineral resources, including oil and gas, and associated logistics. The fund would invest in projects in Ukraine. In this latest version of the agreement, dated February 24, the US has dropped earlier demands for a right to $500bn in potential revenue from the deal. Crucial details including the size of the US stake in the fund and the terms of “joint ownership” deals are to be thrashed out in follow-up agreements.

Why it matters: Senior Ukrainian officials said the US had framed the minerals deal as “part of a bigger picture”. Donald Trump recently overturned Washington’s policy by opening bilateral talks with Russia, without any European allies or Ukraine at the table. The US president also called his Ukrainian counterpart a “dictator” and appeared to blame Ukraine for Russia’s full-scale invasion. Kyiv hopes this deal will improve ties and pave the way for a long-term US security commitment, though the text of the agreement omits any reference to security guarantees.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to travel to the US on Friday to meet Trump and formalize the deal. Here are more details on the agreement.

Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: The EU reports fourth-quarter trade figures with Ukraine, while France and Germany have consumer confidence data.

• Starmer in the US: The UK prime minister lands in Washington ahead of his first meeting with US President Donald Trump tomorrow.

• Results: Chip giant Nvidia reports, as do Anheuser-Busch InBev, Aston Martin Lagonda, Danone, eBay, Heathrow, and Salesforce. See our Week Ahead newsletter for the full list.

Join FT experts tomorrow in a subscriber-only webinar as they discuss Europe’s future after Trump’s return to the White House. Register for free.

Five more top stories

1. The US House of Representatives has passed a budget resolution that calls for trillions of dollars in tax and spending cuts in a victory for Trump as he seeks to enact sweeping changes in fiscal policy. The bill proposes $4.5tn in tax cuts, about $2tn in spending cuts and allocating hundreds of billions of dollars more for the military and border security over a decade. Alex Rogers has more from Washington.

• ‘Gold card’: Trump said the US would offer permanent residency and a route to citizenship for wealthy foreigners if they paid $5mn under a new scheme.

• Apple bug: An issue with the tech giant’s voice-to-text function briefly swapped words with an “r” consonant — including “racist” — for “Trump”.

• Press corps: The White House said it would select the journalists allowed to have the closest access to the president, overturning decades of precedent.

2. The EU will stick to its world-leading climate goals but water down some of its green rules for companies, the bloc’s economic competitiveness tsar has said. European Commission vice-president Teresa Ribera told the FT there was “a fine line that we need to strike”.

3. Israel is seeking an indefinite extension to the first phase of the ceasefire in Gaza rather than moving to a planned second stage designed to lay the groundwork for a more lasting settlement, several people familiar with the matter have said. The initial 42-day phase of the deal is scheduled to conclude on Saturday. Read the full story.

4. Exclusive: Finance ministers from several big economies are poised to skip G20 meetings in South Africa this week, underscoring the declining relevance of the body at a time when global co-operation is faltering. Here are the countries expected to snub the Cape Town meetings.

5. Exclusive: Industry executives have dismissed the UK’s plans for a new private share trading system, with investors questioning how much demand there would be for the system aimed at reviving the City of London. Venture capitalists and private equity bosses have likened it to a “new version” of the country’s ailing junior Aim market.

The Big Read

Vaccine skepticism was long a fringe phenomenon, with anti-vaxxers treated as cranks. But now its leading proponents are grabbing the political limelight in a manner that would have been unthinkable even a few years ago. With traditional political parties around the world struggling to appear relevant, the anti-vaccine movement has become a new anti-establishment political force filling the vacuum.

We’re also reading and listening to . . . 

• Data privacy: The UK’s demand for a “back door” to let law enforcement access Apple users’ encrypted data is a bad idea, writes our editorial board.

• Putin’s dealmaker: Former Goldman Sachs banker Kirill Dmitriev, the Kremlin’s go-between with Gulf countries, helped pave the way for US-Russia talks.

• ‘Price walking’: You sign up for a deal at a low teaser rate, but suddenly the price jumps when it’s time to renew. Sound familiar? Jonathan Guthrie has a few tips for you.

• 🎧 Stagflation? In the latest Unhedged podcast, Rob Armstrong and Aiden Reiter discuss how slowing growth and stubborn inflation seem to be putting a chill on a once exuberant market.

Chart of the day

Wall Street stocks slipped yesterday after a round of gloomy data on consumer confidence deepened investors’ concerns that Trump’s tariffs would knock the world’s biggest economy.

Take a break from the news . . . 

Art buyers love forgotten creators, writes Melanie Gerlis, but is this trend stealing valuable attention away from younger artists?