Why Is Trump Making a Billion-Dollar Mining Deal in Kazakhstan?

President Trump has spent months talking about bringing jobs and manufacturing back to America. But now, one of his administration’s biggest overseas partnerships is raising a very different question: who’s getting rich off these deals?

According to a New York Times investigation, businesses tied to Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump invested in a massive Kazakhstan mining project as the Trump administration was quietly moving the the deal forward. The investigation found that companies connected to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick also became involved in raising money for the venture. “The Kazakh deal was ultimately signed on Nov. 6,” the Times reports, “six days after the investment involving the Trump sons and their partners, which was not publicly disclosed at the time.

Even more striking, the Times found that businesses tied to the Trump and Lutnick families have financial interests in at least 14 companies pursuing government-backed critical mineral projects. 

But before diving into all these conflicts of interests, let’s back up- why is Trump suddenly so interested in Kazakhstan? Well, it all comes down to one very underrated, unsexy rock: tungsten.

If you haven’t thought much about tungsten—or Kazakhstan—before, that’s fair. But world governments have become obsessed with it, as it’s one of the hardest metals on Earth and is used in everything from semiconductors and industrial machinery to fighter jets, missile systems, and armor-piercing ammunition. The U.S. barely produces any of it, while China controls a lot of the global supply. That makes tungsten one of the “critical minerals” Washington has been scrambling to lock down.

Which explains why the Trump administration backed a deal giving an American company access to one of the world’s largest undeveloped tungsten deposits in Kazakhstan. And why the U.S. signaled it could provide up to $1.6 billion to help finance the mine. 

And since these talks have been happening, Kazakhstan has been rolling out the red carpet for Trump. 

According to The New York Times, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev reportedly showered Trump with praise during their negotiations, at one point calling him “a man sent by heaven.” That’s…one way to win over the president.

This deal itself isn’t especially controversial—Republican and Democratic administrations have spent years trying to reduce America’s dependence on China for critical minerals. The shady controversy is who is making money along the way from these billion dollar deals. Prior presidents have divested themselves from particular business interests or put their wealth in blind trusts. The Trump family has used their political position to enrich themselves to the tune of at least $2 billion, according to a separate NY Times report.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The White House says the deal is about national security, not personal enrichment. Eric Trump has described himself as a “passive investor,” and representatives for the companies involved say the Trump brothers played no role in negotiating the Kazakhstan agreement. But from the Trump sons to the Kushners to the Lutnicks, it’s become impossible to untangle the dealings of the Trump administration and the enriching of its members.

And for a country most Americans can’t find on a map, Kazakhstan is suddenly involved in a whole lot of Washington DC drama.