Helme made his remarks to "Otse uudistemajast" Tuesday, following a meeting between a delegation of U.S. lawmakers and U.S. Ambassador to Estonia Roman Pipko.

"When there was a meeting with the U.S. congress delegation and the ambassador here, Pipko, then Pipko said that the most important field of cooperation — perhaps even the only one — is rare earths or valuable mineral resources. That was the message he brought here," Helme said.

"And specifically said this is not military cooperation, because let's be honest — our military contribution is not something they need, so to speak," Helme added.

The EKRE leader noted the current major global race going on between the Americans and especially the Chinese, on artificial intelligence (AI), and the resources needed to develop that further. "These are energy resources and mineral resources. And our message should be that we are interested in this cooperation [with the U.S.]," Helme continued.

This does not mean that Estonia should simply hand its mineral resources over to the Americans, Helme added, noting that this would not happen.

"This is not a kind of thinking whereby we must give everything away, and even pay extra on top. No one has asked for that, and we must not think about it in that way. We will have to think about their know-how, financing opportunities and capital, and how we can align that with our own interests and possibilities so that Estonia can also get wealthier."

"It cannot be that our mineral resources and companies are under someone else's control. It doesn't matter whether that is Brussels, Beijing or Washington — that is completely out of the question," Helme said.

The meeting with Pipko and the congresspeople did not leave the impression that the Americans were interested in setting up any new bases in Estonia, Helme continued.

"Plus if we put this in the context of the war in Ukraine, then the Americans are interested in de-escalation with Russia, not escalation," he said.

Ambassador Pipko this week met with Prime Minister Kristen Michal (Reform). The U.S.-Estonia partnership, regional security and defense, supporting innovation in energy and technology, and expanding bilateral trade, were all discussed.

Estonia in 2024 joined a U.S.-led rare earth metals coalition, which encourages local processing of critical minerals rather than simply exporting raw materials, and Minister of Foreign Affairs Margus Tsahkna (Eesti 200) said in early 2025 that the country should focus on mutually beneficial economic relationships with the U.S. rather than presenting itself as dependent on aid.

Developing the sector would require major investments, however, stretching perhaps into the billions of euros, meaning international capital would likely be involved, including the U.S. or European partners, depending on who offered the best terms.

Tsahkna had said while the approach serves Estonia's national interests given Estonia's vulnerable geopolitical position next to Russia, and certainly did not resemble "colonialism," a domestic political consensus and a national strategy would still need to be developed.

A counterargument is that Estonian companies should mine, refine, and manufacture products from rare earths domestically before exporting them.

Rare earth metals, also known as rare earth elements (REEs), are a group of 17 chemically similar metals which are needed in high-tech, green energy, and defense applications. They are rarely found in concentrated, minable deposits, and so are often difficult and costly to extract.

Phosphorite, found in Ida-Viru County, is an unconventional but significant source of REEs, particularly for light to middle lanthanides, which can be extracted as a byproduct of phosphate fertilizer production.

Greenland has vast and untapped REE and other mineral resources, which the Donald Trump administration has been pursuing access to, to reduce dependency on REEs from Russia and China. The latter country currently accounts for the bulk of refined REE output worldwide.

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