() Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, says the United States is hoping to make an estimated $20 billion from a rare earth minerals deal Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. President Donald Trump are negotiating.

“I think the President’s vision is that not only will it help us with our national security to have the critical minerals, which are so important for putting computers together and everything else, but also, if there’s U.S. ownership in those places, that it will help secure those places, because you, of course wouldn’t want to be attacking U.S. things,” Hassett said in an interview with correspondent Kellie Meyer on “Morning in America.”

Trump said Zelenskyy will sign the minerals deal Friday when he visits the White House. Giving the United States access to these minerals, Trump has previously said, is a way for Kyiv to pay back the U.S. for aid sent for the war effort under Democratic President Joe Biden.

At a news conference on Wednesday in Ukraine, Zelenskyy said a framework of an economic deal had been reached, but it did not yet include the U.S. security guarantees his country sees as vital. On Friday, Zelenskyy said he expected a wide-ranging conversation with Trump.

Hassett on Tariffs

Another topic Hassett addressed in his interview was Trump’s announcement that he will impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico starting Tuesday, as well as double the 10% universal tariff charged on items from China.

The president is focused on solving the problem of fentanyl coming into the U.S. from these countries, Hassett said.

China, Mexico and Canada’s progress on solving this issue was “not as impressive” as Trump hoped, Hassett said.

“I think that’s why he took the action that he did,” he added.

These tariffs don’t mean that the countries should stop trying to fight fentanyl.

“If the president introduces tariffs again on April 2, he’s talking about then the tariffs that are in place now will be on top of whatever else happens to other countries,” Hassett said. “So he’s very serious.”