President Trump’s intense interest in Ukraine’s minerals seemed to come from out of the blue.ye7

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.

“I want security of the rare earth,” he said.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account,x777 or subscribe for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Ms. Harris is locked in a tight presidential race with former President Donald J. Trump. Polls show that the economy remains the biggest issue in the race and that many undecided voters have concerns about Ms. Harris’s ability to make things better. Mr. Trump has tried to deride Ms. Harris as a socialist, if not a communist. Polls suggest those attacks have raised doubts in some swing voters’ minds about how Ms. Harris would wield government power to manage the economy.

So far, the field includes Brad Lander, the city’s left-leaning comptroller who recently pledged to end street homelessness for severely mentally ill people, and Scott Stringer, a former city comptroller who has focused on affordable housing and whose 2021 mayoral campaign was derailed by allegations of sexual misconduct.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.ye7