Macron Fact-Checks Trump After US President Claims Europe 'Loaning' Money To Ukraine | Watch
Trump and his team have been negotiating a minerals revenue-sharing agreement with Ukraine as a way of paying back Washington for the billions of dollars in aid given to Kyiv.
French President Emmanuel Macron met US President Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, where both leaders expressed clear differences in their approach towards ending the war in Ukraine.
During one instance, Trump claimed Europe had loaned military aid to Ukraine and was getting its money back, prompting Macron to correct him by saying it was not the case. “Europe is loaning the money to Ukraine, they’re getting their money back," said Trump during their meeting.
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Macron responded by grabbing Trump’s arm and saying, “No, in fact, to be frank, we paid 60% of the total effort and it was loans, guarantees, grants, and we provided real money, to be clear. We have 230 billion of frozen assets in Europe, Russian assets, but it is not as collateral of a loan because it is not our belonging, so they are frozen."
Moment when French President Emmanuel Macron corrected US President Donald Trump after he claimed Europe was loaning money to Ukraine during a joint meeting at the White House today. pic.twitter.com/FBgDk0SFJr— EDHUB🌍ℹ (@eddie_wrt) February 24, 2025
Additionally, Macron asserted that the responsibility was on Russia to pay back the European aid to Ukraine. “If, at the end of the day, the negotiation we will have with Russia, they’re ready to give it to us, super, it will be a loan at the end of the day and Russia would have paid for that," he said.
Trump responded to Macron by saying, “If you believe that, it’s okay with me. But they get their money back and we don’t, and now we do, but that’s okay with me."
The Trump administration has been negotiating a minerals revenue-sharing agreement with Ukraine to recover some of the money that the previous Biden administration had sent to Kyiv in the form of weapons to repel Russia.
During the talks, Trump said he was hopeful that the US and Ukraine would soon come to terms on the rare earth minerals deal that would give the US access to Ukraine’s critical minerals to help repay the US for more than $180 billion in critical aid. “It looks like we’re getting very close," Trump told reporters at the start of his bilateral meeting with Macron.
Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that progress had been made on reaching an agreement with the United States on an agreement, after a contentious US proposal that would have seen $500 billion worth of profits was scrapped.
Zelenskyy had earlier declined a draft agreement with the US on mineral exploitation because it did not contain security guarantees and came with a $500 billion price tag. He said considering aid to Ukraine as a debt to be repaid would be a “Pandora’s box" that would set a precedent requiring Kyiv to reimburse all its backers.
(with inputs from agencies)
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