The end of 2025 marks the active return of the United States to the Eurasian stage. The administration of Donald Trump is operating with renewed vigor, merging the political mission of the White House with the economic ambitions of major American corporations. Washington is shaping a hybrid strategy where diplomacy, investment, and infrastructure merge into a single global framework.
In September, a large-scale U.S. trade mission was launched across Central Asia and the South Caucasus. The delegation included 25 of the country’s largest corporations—among them Apple, Boeing, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and John Deere. These companies held talks on supply chains, investments, and participation in regional energy and transport projects. The Trans-Caspian route emerged as the central theme of the agenda, with Baku viewed as a key logistical and political hub.
At the same time, New York hosted a business forum of Central Asian and South Caucasus leaders alongside the UN General Assembly session. The forum concluded with the signing of eleven agreements and memoranda. The most notable was Kazakhstan’s deal with Wabtec to produce 300 locomotives, marking a new phase in U.S.–Kazakh industrial cooperation.
A breakthrough also occurred in U.S.–Uzbek relations. Previously, Washington viewed Tashkent mainly through the lens of security and human rights issues, but the priorities have shifted. New agreements worth around $4 billion cover energy and technology sectors—from partnerships with Schlumberger and Baker Hughes to the expansion of Air Products and a joint venture with Gulf to build a network of fuel stations.
The contract for 14 Boeing aircraft became a symbol of the political thaw between Washington and Tashkent. President Trump publicly praised Shavkat Mirziyoyev for his reform agenda, while American corporations began to see Uzbekistan as a platform for access to Afghan and South Asian markets. Energy and industrial cooperation are becoming the foundation of a renewed dialogue.
Meanwhile, Washington is preparing for the upcoming C5+1 Summit, where key discussions will focus on rare-earth metals and Kazakh uranium supplies. In 2024 alone, Kazakhstan’s exports to the United States grew dramatically: uranium reached 2,600 tons, oil 1.7 million tons, silver increased by 50 percent, and ferroalloys by 6 percent. These figures reflect the region’s reorientation toward technological cooperation and integration into global supply chains.
For the Trump administration, Central Asia is no longer a raw-material appendage but part of the West’s resource security system. Amid intensifying rivalry with China, Washington seeks to diversify sources of strategic minerals and build supply chains for critical raw materials. This transforms the region into an instrument of technological containment toward Beijing.
Against this backdrop, Azerbaijan is emerging as a pivotal anchor of U.S. strategy. With its advanced Caspian infrastructure, Baku serves as a natural mediator between the United States and Central Asia. Within the framework of the TRIPP initiative—Trump’s Route for International Peace and Prosperity—Azerbaijan consolidates its status as a key transit player connecting East and West.
Particular importance is attached to the Zangezur project, which is developing in two parallel formats: the American-backed TRIPP and Iran’s “Araz Corridor.” Both routes pass through Azerbaijani territory, granting Baku a unique strategic advantage—participation in both systems without a conflict of interests. While Washington debates allocating $145 million for Armenia, Azerbaijani and Iranian contractors are completing the first bridge across the Araz River. President Ilham Aliyev emphasized that both corridors will pass through this region, turning it into the country’s transportation heart.
Thus, a new geopolitical mosaic is taking shape. The C5+1 format is gradually evolving into a “6+1,” where the United States is no longer a mere observer but an active participant in regional architecture. Azerbaijan becomes the pivotal element of America’s Eurasian strategy, while Central Asia integrates into Trump’s resource doctrine. Transit is transforming into a tool of influence, and transport corridors are becoming the new currency of twenty-first-century infrastructural geopolitics.
