Trump’s trade policy will hurt U.S. first — diplomat

He expressed this opinion in an interview with Antin Borkovskyi, host of the Studio West program.

"General tariffs and duties—such steps radically worsen the situation, particularly affecting consumption. Trump’s talk about protecting domestic producers and bringing manufacturing back—this primarily hits the consumer. In today's era, when investments in capital and production outweigh consumption, this step is completely absurd," Bezsmertnyi said.

Despite claims that everything is calculated by artificial intelligence, he emphasized that the economy is based on trust.

"Artificial intelligence is still amoral, just a set of numbers. Those around Donald Trump have fed him completely misleading conceptual approaches, and the first ones to be hit will be the U.S. Regarding the world economic model, it will take years to correct and stabilize this situation," the diplomat said.

As for the place of Russia in the Ukrainian war, Russian aggression, the negotiation process, and so on, Bezsmertny believes Trump has backed himself into a corner with his actions. "In the last week, Trump has been bouncing from talks in Riyadh to trips by Pete Hegseth to the Far East, to Japan, the Philippines, causing turmoil. After the escalation with Iran, preparations for an attack on Iran were underway. Not to mention the tariff decision on April 2," he noted.

Bezsmertnyi also pointed out that Trump is seeking any small victory or at least the birth of hope for American society, something that would foster trust in him and revive the belief that Trump can make a difference.

"Although, if we look back at these past two months of his 'achievements', most of it has led to a very bad, negative outcome. Primarily in the U.S., not to mention the world. The U.S. is losing trust, entire trade systems are collapsing, and security alliances are falling apart. And worst of all, former economic, security, and defense partners of the U.S. are seeking other allies. Just look at the deal between China, Japan, and South Korea to jointly respond to Trump’s trade policy," Bezsmertnyi said.

Regarding the narrow negotiation process triangle of Kyiv, Washington, and Moscow, there has been a pause caused by delays in the negotiation process due to Moscow's procrastination. However, Trump remains silent, claiming he is angry.

"He compensated with a series of 'compliments' towards Ukraine. He hopes this will balance the informational field to move on to the next phase. But as statements from Russia show—both Lavrov and his deputy Ryabkov—they are now talking about the root causes. And Donald Trump doesn't even know this term. While Washington is preparing for the next steps, it seems likely there will be trials with the war in Iran, continued conflict in Yemen with the Houthis. This, I’m sorry to say, plays into Moscow’s interests—creating new flashpoints of conflict," the diplomat concluded.

Minerals deal: background

On Thursday, March 27, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that the U.S. is pushing for a full agreement on minerals to be signed immediately instead of a framework agreement.

On March 28, media reports surfaced that the administration of US. .President Donald Trump had reintroduced a provision requiring Ukraine to reimburse all aid provided by the U.S. since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.

During the government Q&A hour in the Verkhovna Rada on March 28, Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko confirmed that the government had received a draft minerals agreement from the U.S. and was working on forming its position.

Later, Zelenskyy commented on the new U.S. draft agreement on Ukrainian rare earth minerals, stating that it contained provisions both sides had previously rejected.

On March 31, U.S. President Donald Trump said that the Ukrainian leader was looking to back out of the minerals deal.