特朗普为何瞄准乌克兰矿产资源
How Trump and Biden’s Focus on Minerals Became Core to U.S. Foreign Policy

President Trump’s intense interest in Ukraine’s minerals seemed to come from out of the blue.
特朗普总统对乌克兰矿产的强烈兴趣似乎来得很突然。

He dispatched his Treasury secretary to Kyiv this month to negotiate with Ukraine’s leader, then began ratcheting up the pressure publicly in what appeared to critics like a Mafia don’s extortion scheme.
本月，他派财政部长前往基辅与乌克兰领导人谈判，随后又开始公开施压，在批评人士看来，这就像是黑手党头目的勒索手法。

“I want security of the rare earth,” he said.
他说：“我想要保障稀土安全。”

But critical minerals have been on Mr. Trump’s mind since at least 2017, when he signed an executive order on them during his first term. They also caught the attention of President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
不过，早在2017年，关键矿产就已进入了特朗普的视野，当时在第一个任期里，他就签署了一项行政命令。这些矿产也引起了拜登总统的注意。

And Mr. Trump’s recent comments on Ukraine’s assets were not the first time in his new term that he has mentioned taking over a country’s mineral holdings.
特朗普最近就乌克兰资产发表的言论也并非他在这个新任期内首次提及接管一个国家的矿产资源。

The president has talked about acquiring minerals in Greenland and Canada. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada told a group of business leaders that Mr. Trump’s focus on Canada’s minerals meant his threats to annex the country were “a real thing.”
总统曾谈到要收购格陵兰岛和加拿大的矿产。加拿大总理特鲁多对一群商界领袖说，特朗普对加拿大矿产的关注意味着他吞并加拿大的威胁“不是说说的”。

Seizing mineral wealth overseas has become a core foreign policy goal of Mr. Trump’s and an impetus for his most imperialistic remarks since taking office. His instincts hark back to the drives of fallen empires, when resource extraction motivated rulers to expand territory.
从海外夺取矿产资源已成为特朗普的一项核心外交政策目标，也是他自上任以来所发表的最具帝国主义色彩的言论背后的推动力。他的这种本能让人想起历史上那些衰落帝国的扩张冲动，攫取资源的需要促使统治者扩大疆土。

On Tuesday, after nearly two weeks of difficult talks, Ukrainian and U.S. officials said they had reached agreement on a framework for sharing revenue from Ukraine’s critical minerals.
周二，在经过近两周的艰难谈判，乌克兰和美国官员表示，他们已就乌克兰关键矿产收益的分享框架达成协议。

Critical minerals are nonfuel substances that are essential for energy technologies and at high risk of supply-chain disruption, according to the U.S. Energy Department. They are found around the world — including in Chile and Argentina, the Chinese-controlled Tibetan plateau, and the Democratic Republic of Congo — and are integral to common technologies (electric car batteries) and specialized ones (missile systems). In 2022, the U.S. Geological Survey released a list of 50 critical minerals that ranges from aluminum to zirconium.
据美国能源部称，关键矿产是对能源技术至关重要的非燃料物质，并且存在供应链中断的高风险。这些矿产遍布全球，包括智利和阿根廷、中国所控制的青藏高原，以及刚果民主共和国，它们是一些通用技术（如电动汽车电池）和专业领域（如导弹系统）不可或缺的组成部分。2022年，美国地质调查局发布了一份涵盖了从铝到锆等50种重要矿产清单。

Because of competition with China, the search for critical minerals has been important to the United States for nearly a decade.
由于与中国的竞争，寻找关键矿产一直是美国近十年来的重要任务。

Mr. Biden, on the final overseas trip of his presidency, visited a U.S.-supported railway in Angola that would help transport critical minerals from central Africa to the coast for export.
拜登在总统任内的最后一次出访就包括参观安哥拉一条美国资助修建的铁路，该项目将有助于将关键矿产从非洲中部运往沿海地区以便出口。

State Department officials in his administration earlier set up a group of allied nations to discuss creating or reinforcing critical mineral supply chains outside of China. And they established a sister forum so that mineral-rich countries could speak to potential client nations and foreign companies about developing mines and processing plants.
拜登政府的国务院官员此前成立了一个盟国小组，讨论在中国以外的地方建立或加强关键矿产供应链的问题。他们还成立了一个姊妹论坛，以便矿产资源丰富的国家可以与潜在的客户国和外国公司就矿山开发和建立加工厂事宜展开讨论。

Ukraine, Greenland and Canada were all part of that. In fact, Ukraine and the United States came close to signing an agreement last fall in which Ukraine would have promised to give the United States a heads up on potential projects, allowing American companies or those of allied nations enough lead time to bid for contracts. The State Department would also have given Ukraine technical assistance on mapping and writing regulations.
乌克兰、格陵兰和加拿大都是其中的成员。实际上，在去年秋天，乌克兰和美国就曾接近签署一项协议，依据该协议，乌克兰承诺将就可能开发的项目提前知会美国，使得美国公司或盟国企业有足够的时间来参与竞标。美国国务院还将向乌克兰提供测绘和法规制定方面的技术援助。

That has not been Mr. Trump’s approach.
这并非特朗普的行事方式。

“Trump and his aides are talking in a way that is unnecessary,” said Jose W. Fernandez, who was an architect of the State Department’s initiatives on critical minerals in the Biden administration. “These are countries that want investment. But they want partnerships. They are not looking for a colonial relationship.”
“特朗普和他的助手现在的谈判方式是不必要的，”曾在拜登政府负责关键矿产计划的何塞·费尔南德斯说。“这些国家希望获得投资。但他们希望的是伙伴关系。他们要的不是殖民关系。”

He added that these countries were attracted to American financial and commercial partners because they did not like more coercive options, including proposals from China.
他还表示，这些国家之所以对来自美国的融资和商业伙伴有兴趣，是因为它们不喜欢那些更具强制性的选择，包括中国提出的方案。

Last September, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine began presenting a “victory plan” against Russia to allied governments as well as to Mr. Trump, who was running for president, that, among other things, offered partnerships on critical minerals.
去年9月，乌克兰总统泽连斯基开始向盟国政府以及当时正在竞选总统的特朗普提出一项针对俄罗斯的“胜利计划”，其中包括在关键矿产方面建立合作伙伴关系。

Mr. Fernandez was scheduled to sign a memorandum of understanding last October with a deputy prime minister of Ukraine, Yulia Svyrydenko, the State Department said in an email sent to reporters at the time. But on Oct. 29, the day of the scheduled signing, she did not show up in Washington.
美国国务院在当时发给记者的一封电子邮件中说，费尔南德斯原定于去年10月与乌克兰副总理尤利娅·斯维里坚科签署一份谅解备忘录。但在10月29日，也就是原定的签署日当天，她没有出现在华盛顿。

Ms. Svyrydenko was then supposed to sign the agreement at a Ukraine reconstruction conference in Warsaw on Nov. 13, but again did not appear.
随后，斯维里坚科本应于11月13日在华沙举行的乌克兰重建会议上签署该协议，但她同样没有出现。

By then Mr. Trump had won the election, and Ukrainian officials told U.S. diplomats that they preferred to wait to sign an agreement with the incoming administration, according to two former U.S. officials and a Ukrainian official with knowledge of the events.
据了解内情的两名美国前官员和一名乌克兰官员称，到那时特朗普已经赢得了选举，乌克兰官员告诉美国外交官，他们更愿意等待与即将上任的政府签署协议。

Ukrainian officials had already been talking with some foreign businesspeople, including Ronald S. Lauder, a cosmetics heir who is a friend of Mr. Trump’s, about investment opportunities in Ukraine’s mineral sector.
乌克兰官员已经与一些外国商人进行了接触，其中包括特朗普的朋友、化妆品企业继承人罗纳德·劳德，他们讨论了在乌克兰矿产领域的投资机会。

Earlier this month, Mr. Zelensky balked at the terms that Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, presented to him in Kyiv. The proposal called for Ukraine to give the United States half of its revenues from natural resources, including minerals, gas and oil, as well as earnings from ports and other infrastructure.
本月早些时候，泽连斯基拒绝了财政部长斯科特·贝森特在基辅向他提出的条款。该提议要求乌克兰将自然资源收益的一半，包括矿产、天然气和石油，以及港口和其他基础设施的收入，交给美国。

Mr. Trump also initially demanded $500 billion for the United States. He said America deserved payment for the billions in weapons and budget aid it gave Ukraine during the Biden administration, even though the amount was a tiny fraction of annual U.S. federal spending. Critics called Mr. Trump’s terms rapacious, colonialist and mercantilist.
特朗普最初的要价是5000亿美元。他说，美国在拜登政府期间向乌克兰提供了数百亿美元的武器和预算援助，尽管这个数额在美国年度联邦支出中算不上什么。批评者称特朗普开出的是一个贪婪的、唯利是图的、殖民主义的条件。

U.S. officials tempered some of the demands while continuing to pressure Ms. Svyrydenko and other Ukrainian negotiators to sign a deal. The current draft framework has a vague reference to security guarantees for Ukraine, which Mr. Zelensky has said are essential for preventing Russia from trying to launch another invasion after any future cease-fire to end the war. Mr. Trump said Wednesday that he does not plan to give “very much” of a guarantee.
美国官员放宽了部分要求，同时继续向斯维里坚科和其他乌克兰谈判代表施压，要求他们签署协议。目前的框架草案仅含糊提及对乌克兰的安全保障，泽连斯基曾经表示，这对于防止俄罗斯在未来停火结束战争后再次发动入侵至关重要。特朗普周三说，他不打算提供“太多”保证。

China has been on a yearslong push to develop global dominance in extracting and processing critical minerals. At the same time, the United States has had to import substantial amounts of critical minerals for commercial and military use.
多年来，中国一直在努力发展在关键矿产的开采和加工方面的全球主导地位。与此同时，美国不得不进口大量商业和军事用途的关键矿产。

A report released this month from the Center for Strategic and International Studies noted that the United States imports 50 to 100 percent of each of 41 of the 50 critical minerals listed by the U.S. Geological Survey. China is the top producer for 29 of the minerals.
美国战略与国际研究中心本月发布的一份报告指出，在美国地质调查局列出的50种关键矿物中，美国对于其中41种的进口比例达到50%到100%。中国是其中29种的最大生产国。

And “China has repeatedly shown its willingness to weaponize these minerals,” the report said — including imposing export controls and bans in the last two years on a range of raw minerals. Furthermore, it said, China now refines between 40 to 90 percent of the globe’s supply of rare earth elements, graphite, lithium, cobalt and copper.
报告指出，“中国已多次表现出将这些矿产武器化的意愿”——包括在过去两年对一系列原材料实施出口管制和禁令。此外，报告还称，中国目前提炼了全球40%到90%的稀土元素、石墨、锂、钴和铜的供应。

The disruptions in global supply chains during the coronavirus pandemic heightened anxieties within the U.S. government. Mr. Biden issued an executive order in early 2021 that, among other things, told the defense secretary to identify risks to the flow of critical minerals from abroad.
新冠疫情对全球供应链的干扰加剧了美国政府的焦虑。拜登在2021年初发布了一项行政命令，其中包括要求国防部长明确来自国外的关键矿产流动风险。

The next year, Mr. Fernandez, then the top economic official at the State Department, oversaw the agency’s creation of the Minerals Security Partnership, a group of 15 nations looking to broaden global supply chains for critical minerals. The Trump White House and the Indian government mentioned that group in a joint statement when Mr. Trump met this month with Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, saying their nations, both members of the group, could collaborate on critical minerals.
第二年，时任美国国务院最高经济官员的费尔南德斯领导创建了“矿产安全伙伴关系”，这是一个由15个国家组成的组织，旨在拓宽关键矿产的全球供应链。本月特朗普会晤印度总理莫迪时，两国政府发表（它们都是该组织成员国）的一份联合声明中提到，可以在关键矿产方面开展合作。

Last year, the State Department created a sister forum with 15 producer nations, including Ukraine and Greenland, looking for investors to help grow their industries.
去年，国务院与包括乌克兰和格陵兰岛在内的15个出产国创建了一个姊妹论坛，这些国家正在寻找投资者来帮助发展相关产业。

“The bottom line is Ukraine has been pursuing investments for a long time,” Mr. Fernandez said.
费尔南德斯说：“归根结底，乌克兰长期以来一直在寻求投资。”

So has Greenland.
格陵兰也是如此。

The forum held a meeting in November in Nuuk, Greenland, where companies presented seven projects in the country to about 100 potential investors who called in by video.
该论坛于去年11月在格陵兰努克举行了一次会议，约有100名潜在投资者通过视频连线，相关企业向他们介绍了该国的七个投资项目。

In his first term, Mr. Trump became fixated on the idea of buying Greenland after prodding by Mr. Lauder, the cosmetics heir.
在化妆品企业继承人劳德的鼓动下，特朗普在第一任期内开始执着于购买格陵兰的想法。

Another Trump business ally, Howard Lutnick, the president’s commerce secretary, has ties to a mining project in Greenland, via an investment made by his firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, in a New York-based company called Critical Metals Corp., according to securities filings reviewed by The New York Times.
据《纽约时报》查阅的证券文件显示，特朗普的另一位商业盟友、商务部长霍华德·卢特尼克通过自己的公司坎托·菲茨杰拉德投资了总部位于纽约的关键金属公司，从而与格陵兰岛的一个矿业项目存在关联。