Trump cut a billion-dollar mining deal. His sons stand to profit
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An agreement between the US and Kazakhstan has given a group of American investors access to one of the world’s largest untapped reserves of tungsten.
PHOTO: SERGEY PONOMAREV/NYTIMES
Paul Sonne and Eric Lipton
UNREK, Kazakhstan – When Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick met Kazakhstan’s President at the St Regis Hotel in September 2025 in New York, US President Donald Trump jumped in by phone as the men sealed a deal on a top priority for Washington.
During the call, Trump and his team won an agreement from the Kazakh leader to give a little-known US company access to one of the world’s largest untapped reserves of tungsten, a metal that the United States desperately needs for the production of missile warheads, fighter jets, computer chips and other critical goods.