Discusses Ukraine Critical Minerals Deal, Fentanyl Precursors from China
U.S. SENATE – U.S. Senator Steve Daines joined Fox Business today to discuss President Trump’s historic minerals deal with Ukraine, as well as the need to reduce trade barriers and expand market access abroad.
Watch the full interview HERE.
Daines praised President Trump’s critical minerals deal with Ukraine:
“I think this is another great win by President Trump, and congratulations to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for getting this deal signed. Look, Ukraine is rich in these critical minerals that we need. And remember, there’s dependencies on places like China and Russia for these critical minerals. This allows us to get a much more secure supply chain with this agreement with Ukraine. It’s materials like lithium, like titanium, critical to the United States. But, second, as you mentioned, this now gives President Trump a stronger hand in negotiating with the Russians with this strong partnership on critical minerals with the Ukrainians.”
Daines applauded Trump for bringing back U.S. strength abroad and emphasized the need to halt fentanyl precursors from China:
“I know President Trump and his team are aggressively working around the clock with literally 60 to 70 countries to frame a deal as it relates to having better access for American companies into those countries and to really level the playing field to make it fair and put forward this America First agenda. So I know there’s a lot of countries on the shortlist. I’m going to let Secretary Bessent and Trade Ambassador Greer make that decision. But I know they’ve got several right at the goal line. I’m looking forward to hearing those announcements. I think it’s important they start showing some of these wins as well to see the end here to these tariff means we seek here at the moment…
“Nothing delivers more success than a first step of success. I think success will breed success… So, I agree with you. And that will send a strong signal around the world exactly where the endgame is with the Trump administration, getting these great deals that will allow us to remove some of these tariff and non-tariff barriers to allow American companies to compete fairly around the world. But you go back to China, you know, China and the United States are 42 percent of the world’s economy. The U .S. has the largest economy. China is number two. In fact, China’s economy is three times bigger, nearly four times bigger than the third largest economy, and that’s Japan and then Germany. And so all eyes are going to be on these initial deals, but I think that will be basically an entree to serve up an important deal with China. It’s important that we eventually resolve this trade dispute with China. It’s important for the world. It’s important, especially the in United States. There’s a couple of places we can start with China. One is they’ve got to stop shipping the precursors of fentanyl to the Mexican cartels. It’s a cease and desist. Number two is we’ve got a phase one trade deal I was part negotiating back in 2019 in Beijing with Senator Perdue now Ambassador Perdue to China. We helped President Trump get that phase one trade deal in Beijing. We should start there in terms of some of the unfilled commitments that were made back in 2019 with the government of China.”
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Contact: Matt Lloyd, Gabby Wiggins