Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent revealed on Saturday why the meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and President Donald Trump went sideways during a very tense exchange in the Oval Office the previous day.
According to Bessent, the Ukrainian president repeatedly resisted signing a minerals and economic agreement despite previously indicating he would do so multiple times prior to his trip to the U.S. last week.
Bessent and other administration officials said this pattern led Trump to adopt a “three strikes and you’re out” stance in his dealings with the Ukrainian leader.
Several lawmakers, including staunch Ukraine supporter Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), had anticipated that Zelensky would sign the minerals deal on Friday, but that didn’t happen after the Oval Office dust-up that included Vice President JD Vance.
Trump has insisted on repayment for the hundreds of billions of dollars the U.S. has provided to Ukraine in military and humanitarian aid, pointing out that European nations have already secured agreements to recoup their investments.
Trump has emphasized that a minerals deal—allocating approximately 50% of profits from Ukraine’s mineral sector to the U.S. until its loans are repaid—is a crucial first step toward any security agreement. The president has expressed openness to providing security guarantees and deploying peacekeepers in Ukraine but insists that the minerals deal must be finalized first.
A few hours after the tense meeting ended, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spoke with Fox News, providing insight into the events and negotiations leading up to the pivotal moment.
“President Trump sent me there to, again, we were supposed to bring the Ukrainian people closer to the U.S. people, send a strong signal to Russian leadership that we had not only shared values, but now shared economic interests, and also have a strong signal for the American people that their tax dollars were actually going to work,” Bessent told host Laura Ingraham.
“Instead, President Zelensky and I had a very tough 45-minute meeting at a very loud decibel level. And I kept telling him, ‘Mr. President, the purpose of this is to show the Russians there is no daylight between us.’ And at the end of the meeting, he said, well, ‘I’m not signing this.’”
Shocked by Zelensky’s defiance, Bessent asked how he intended to explain the situation to the press, given that a minerals deal had been widely expected to be finalized at the meeting. Zelensky responded that he was still willing to sign but preferred to do so at last month’s Munich Security Conference.
However, when the conference took place, he once again refused to sign the agreement.
“Then he got to Munich and he ran into Vice President Vance and Secretary [of State Marco] Rubio. You know, very different than Vice President Harris and Secretary [of State Antony] Blinken, but he didn’t sign the agreement,” the Treasury secretary explained.
Heading into Friday’s meeting, Zelensky was once again expected to sign the agreement after assuring the Trump administration earlier in the week that he would do so.
“So finally we were supposed to have the signing today. It was supposed to be a great day,” Bessent told Fox News, describing Zelensky’s refusal to cooperate as one of the biggest “own goals in diplomatic history.”
WATCH:
This is what REALLY happened before the blow-up at the White House between Zelensky and President Donald Trump.
The Ukrainian leader repeatedly balked at signing the minerals agreement – at least three times – after pledging repeatedly he would.
Trump simply got fed up. pic.twitter.com/v45F3LYok1
— USA Features Media (@UsaFeatures) March 2, 2025
When asked whether he would welcome Zelensky back to the White House for another meeting after Friday’s chaos, the president balked at the idea. “Well he says he wants it now, he wants it right now but I can’t do that,” the president told reporters.