NPR.

On Monday, Donald Trump announced a pause on military aid to Ukraine.

It's a huge deal.

The US is spending more on military assistance than the next nine other countries combined.

This freeze comes after the Oval Office blow up last Friday, just before what was supposed to be a signing ceremony on a minerals deal between the U.S. and Ukraine.

And to understand why Ukraine's minerals are so important to this very fraught negotiation,

you can look inside a Tomahawk cruise missile.

That is where you will find a very strong type of magnet,

a type so strong that it could crush your fingers off. These magnets are part of

small motors and electronics that the missile uses to help hit its target. And the magnet in

question is a neodymium magnet. Neodymium is what's called a rare earth element. It's one of

17 metals on the periodic table that help our modern

economy spin. Rare earth elements are also used in batteries, TV screens, and electric vehicles,

as well as throughout the military. Ultimately, there's almost no defense technology that I can

produce without rare earths. According to experts like Graceland

Baskerin, what makes the U.S. military nervous is that China produces 70% of the world's supply of

rare earths. This is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Kenny Malone. And I'm Dariam Woods. Both the

U.S. and Ukraine say the door is still open to a minerals deal.

So today on the show, we decided to take a closer look.

What's in the draft deal?

Do Ukraine's minerals live up to the hype?

And who profits?

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