On November 2, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump descended from his presidential vehicle at Palm Beach International Airport in West Palm Beach, Florida, before boarding Air Force One to head to the White House (AFP)

U.S. President Donald Trump will host an annual summit with leaders of the five Central Asian countries—Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan—in Washington, D.C. on Thursday. The organization, known as "C5+1," was established in 2015 and refers to these five Central Asian countries plus the United States.

According to the U.S. Department of State, the forum aims to strengthen cooperation between Washington and Central Asian countries through "fair and mutually beneficial economic partnerships, enhanced energy security, and promoting peace through strength," advancing "regional solutions to global challenges."

The statement added, "The C5+1 working group supports cooperation in three key areas: economy, energy, and security."

However, Thursday's meeting with leaders of the former Soviet republics comes as Russia and China seek to reach their own trade agreements in the region.

Shairbek Juraev, chairman of the independent research institution "Central Asia's Crossroads," told Al Jazeera that he expects Thursday's meeting to discuss trade agreements, particularly those involving "critical mineral resources."

Here is what we know so far about the summit:

What is C5+1?

The forum was officially established at its first meeting held in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, in 2015. At that time, foreign ministers of the six countries pledged to deepen cooperation in trade, transportation, energy, and communications.

Before the U.S. withdrawal in 2021, both sides also used these meetings to discuss security issues related to the war in Afghanistan.

In 2023, then-U.S. President Joe Biden held his first meeting with leaders of Central Asian countries during the UN General Assembly, marking a significant shift in U.S. focus on the region.

According to a statement by Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the leaders discussed "strengthening cooperation to address security challenges, including threats such as cybersecurity, terrorism, extremism, illegal migration, and drug trafficking" during the 2023 meeting.

Biden praised the first meeting of leaders as a "historic moment" and said that the cooperation would continue to deepen on the basis of years of "close collaboration." He said, "This cooperation is built on our shared commitment to sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity."

What trade agreements has the U.S. recently reached in Central Asia?

In the first six months of Trump's second term, the U.S. signed trade agreements worth $12.4 billion with Central Asian countries.

In September, Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social, praising the $8 billion deal between the Uzbek government and Boeing, an American aircraft manufacturer, for the purchase of Boeing 787 Dreamliners as "a good deal." Trump welcomed the agreement signed by Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev for Uzbekistan Airlines to purchase 22 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, stating that the agreement would create over 35,000 jobs in the U.S.

Trump wrote, "President Mirziyoyev keeps his word, and we will continue to cooperate on more projects."

That month, Kazakhstan signed a $4.2 billion agreement with American locomotive parts manufacturer Wabtec. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, the agreement will provide 300 sets of locomotive components to Kazakhstan for assembling locomotives for the Kazakhstan National Railway Company (Kazakhstan Railways).

Trump again promoted this deal on Truth Social, calling it "the largest rail equipment procurement in history."

October 29, 2025, at the ore terminal of Yantai Port in Shandong Province, China, bauxite concentrate (which can be used to extract rare earth metals) and iron ore (Getty Images)

Why have rare earth minerals become a hot topic this year?

Central Asia has abundant reserves of rare earth metals, which are essential for the production of various products, ranging from smartphones to fighter jets.

In April this year, Kazakhstan announced that geologists discovered deposits of rare earth metals such as cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, and yttrium - metals used in components for smartphones and computer hard drives.

Although still in the preliminary stage, as these deposits need further verification and exploration, according to the Kazakh Ministry of Industry and Construction, these deposits located in the Karaganda region contain more than 20 million tons of rare earth metals. If this data is accurate, Kazakhstan's rare earth reserves would be close to half of China's global rare earth reserves.

At the end of October, the Kazakhstan Development Bank announced the launch of a $1 billion financing plan to mine and process rare earth metals between 2025 and 2030.

Rare earth metals are crucial for many fields, including defense equipment, smartphones, electric vehicles, and artificial intelligence technologies. In the past year, rare earth metals have become a focal point in the U.S.-China trade war.

Since taking office in January this year, Trump has repeatedly emphasized the importance of the U.S. obtaining more rare earth resources and has listed it as a top foreign policy priority.

China has the world's largest rare earth reserves, amounting to 44 million tons. China also processes 90% of the world's rare earths. China possesses 12 of the 17 rare earth metals on the periodic table, but it restricted exports of seven of them in April this year. In October, China announced restrictions on another five minerals, but last week, during talks held in South Korea between the U.S. and China, China agreed to delay these restrictions.

The U.S. is actively seeking rare earth deals in other parts of the world. In October, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated that an agreement between Australia and the U.S. would support an $8.5 billion "ready-to-start" project, which would significantly boost Australia's mining and processing capacity. Both countries will invest $1 billion each in mining projects within the next six months.

Meanwhile, an agreement between the U.S. and Ukraine aimed at helping Ukraine rebuild after the Russia-Ukraine war also includes the U.S.'s right to access Ukraine's rare earth deposits. In May, after months of negotiations, the two countries signed a rare earth mineral agreement that would give the U.S. priority access to new mining and natural resource exploitation licenses in Ukraine.

Therefore, it is no surprise that Trump is now interested in Central Asia. Juraev explained that the region "has rich and diverse mineral resources, especially Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, the two largest economies in the region."

He said, "So I expect some discussion on this topic, but whether it will be publicly announced, I don't know, but it will definitely be an important issue."

Why is China's restriction on rare earth exports a key issue in U.S.-China trade tensions?

Which other countries want to strengthen their ties with Central Asia?

America's two biggest competitors: Russia and China.

In October, Russia held its second Central Asian summit in Tajikistan, with President Putin urging closer trade relations. The first summit was held in 2022, when the six countries agreed to strengthen their relationships.

Much of Central Asia was part of the Soviet Union, making the region significant for Putin.

When addressing the other five heads of state in the region, Putin reiterated Moscow's commitment to "further strengthen strategic partnerships and alliances with your country and deepen constructive political, economic, and cultural relations."

He said, "All these areas have seen significant progress. For example, last year, trade between Russia and the five Central Asian countries exceeded $45 billion. Overall, this is a good result."

Data from the Economic Complexity Observatory, a trade data visualization platform, shows that in 2023, Russia's main export destinations included China ($129 billion), India ($66.1 billion), Turkey ($31 billion), and Kazakhstan ($16.1 billion).

At the same time, China is actively increasing its influence in the region.

According to the Kazakh news agency "Astana Times," at the Kazakhstan-China Business Council meeting held in Beijing in September, Kazakh President Tokayev and Chinese senior representatives attended the meeting, and the two countries signed 70 trade agreements worth nearly $15 billion.

The Eurasian Development Bank predicts that bilateral trade between China and Central Asia will reach $66.2 billion in 2024.

Can the U.S. make progress in Central Asia in this competition?

Juraev said that the U.S. will find it difficult to compete with Russia and China in reaching trade agreements with Central Asian countries.

He said, "Central Asia is very close to China and Russia in terms of economy, politics, and geography. It's not a matter of choosing political or geopolitical loyalty. This is a harsh geopolitical reality." He added that the best the U.S. can do currently is to maintain some level of "influence" in the region.

Sources: Al Jazeera

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