U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday underscored the importance of critical minerals to America’s economic and national security as he hosted the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan at the White House — a rare gathering aimed at deepening ties with a region rich in natural resources and long influenced by Russia and China.
Calling Central Asia “an extremely wealthy region,” Trump said his administration was focused on expanding and securing U.S. supply chains through new global partnerships.
“One of the key items on our agenda is critical minerals,” Trump said. “We’ve strengthened America’s economic security by forging agreements with allies and partners around the world to broaden our critical mineral supply chains.”
The meeting — part of the C5+1 diplomatic platform launched in 2015 — came amid growing global competition for Central Asia’s vast deposits of uranium, copper, gold, and rare earth elements, which are essential for clean energy and advanced technologies.
Trump’s talks with the Central Asian leaders followed months of behind-the-scenes negotiations over energy cooperation, mineral access, and regional infrastructure.
Kazakhstan’s President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev hailed the event as “the beginning of a new era of interaction between the United States and Central Asia,” while Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev praised Trump as “the president of the world,” proposing the creation of a permanent C5+1 secretariat in the region.
Later that evening, Trump announced on Truth Social that Uzbekistan planned to invest more than $100 billion in U.S. industries over the next decade, focusing on critical minerals, automotive manufacturing, and aviation.
During the summit, the U.S. and Central Asian nations signed a memorandum of cooperation on critical minerals, as part of Washington’s push to reduce reliance on China and Russia for essential materials.
Among the newly announced deals:
- Boeing will sell up to 37 airplanes to airlines in Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.
- Cove Capital, a U.S. company, will begin tungsten mining operations in Kazakhstan with support from U.S. government financing.
Analyst Gracelin Baskaran from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said the U.S. strategy includes both government partnerships and private-sector projects aimed at securing a foothold in Central Asia.
“As China and Russia tighten control over mining and infrastructure systems, Washington is seeking to establish a tangible presence through targeted strategic projects,” she said.
Central Asia’s five nations — home to about 84 million people — possess some of the world’s richest deposits of uranium, gold, copper, and rare earths.
Kazakhstan, the region’s largest economy, supplies nearly 40% of global uranium, while Uzbekistan ranks among the top five producers. Together, the two countries account for over half of the world’s uranium output, a critical material for the U.S. nuclear power industry, which provides a major share of the nation’s electricity.
Currently, Russia supplies around 20% of U.S. uranium imports, making diversification of sources a top strategic priority.
Under Trump, Washington has adopted a multi-pronged approach to reduce dependency on China, which dominates global supply chains for rare earths, copper, uranium, and titanium — and has occasionally used its control to restrict exports for political leverage.
