As the Trump administration angles for peace between Ukraine and Russia, the real driving force that will bring calm to the region — while benefiting the United States — is a critical mineral deal with America.

To understand why, we must first recognize why critical minerals are so essential.

Ukraine contains only 0.4% of the world’s land mass but has an estimated 5% of the world’s critical mineral reserves, including uranium, aluminum, copper, nickel, lithium, rare earth metals, graphite, and more. These minerals are vital for advanced industry and technology, including metallurgy, batteries, fuel cells, lubricants, computer chips, nuclear energy … the list is nearly endless. Even though these minerals are linchpins of the modern economy, out of the 50 minerals deemed “critical,” the U.S. fully relies on imports for 12 of them. We have to import over 50% of another 28 of these building blocks.

Whether it’s Canada, Greenland, or Ukraine, President Trump wants to import critical minerals wherever possible to sustain and strengthen our economic and technological dominance.