This is The Guardian.

Today, after a very public buster and then a meeting at the Vatican,

how Ukraine and the world to a game of poker, and he told Vladimir Zelensky very publicly in the Oval Office that the Ukrainian president had no cards.

Let me tell you, you don't have the cards. With us, you have the cards. But without us,

you don't have any cards. The Zelensky needed to shut up and put up with a deal to give the

US access to potentially billions of dollars in mineral wealth under the Ukrainian ground.

But when that minerals deal was finally signed last week...

The US says it's ready to sign a much-anticipated resources deal with Ukraine.

Actually, it wasn't too bad for Ukraine.

The deal is said to provide for a 50-50 joint economic fund between Kyiv and Washington.

Nothing is ever guaranteed with Trump, but in Kiev, Zelensky is calling it a win, and so is the president in Washington. So how did Zelensky do it? What does it mean for the war? And what

will other countries be learning about the dilemma they're facing too? From The Guardian, I'm Michael

Safi. Today in focus, how do you make a deal with Donald Trump?

Andrew Roth, you're the Guardian's global Affairs Correspondent based in Washington, D.C.

You're the man trying to make sense of a lot of the madness that we see out of the White House over the past few months.

Last week we learned that the US was signing a Minerals deal with Ukraine.

How much of surprise was that announcement to you?

Yeah, I think, you know, the minerals deal was something that wasn't a surprise in

of itself. We knew that it was coming down the pipeline and that it had been under negotiation

for a long time. But I do think that it was a surprise for many people that they managed to

actually push it across the line.

And there's one real reason for that, and that's Donald Trump.

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