Could Donald Trump become the first US president to visit Central Asia?

Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev has been pushing for it, and, on September 7, Trump seemed to praise Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and briefly float the idea of a visit.

As Trump left the White House to attend the US Open tennis tournament, a Kazakh reporter asked if he would visit Kazakhstan. Trump responded, “I may. I had a great conversation with him [Tokayev]. Say ‘hello’ to him. He’s a good man.”

Whether the off-the-cuff remark actually points to a possible Central Asia trip remains to be seen, especially since there’s been no official announcement of a recent telephone call between Tokayev and Trump by either side. 

Notably, Trump did not actually say Tokayev’s name or Kazakhstan in his response, but he did have a phone call with Mirziyoyev on September 5, raising the possibility Trump mixed up the two leaders, or did not hear the shouted question clearly over the noise of Marine One, which was preparing for takeoff a few yards away.

During the September 5 call, Mirziyoyev extended an invitation for Trump to visit Uzbekistan “at a convenient time,” according to a read-out released by the Uzbek president’s office. 

Sources in Washington told Eurasianet that no decision on a Central Asia visit had been finalised as of September 9. The Kazakh president’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Uzbekistan has proven to be the Central Asian state most intent on courting the White House in Trump’s second term, and Mirziyoyev’s recent pitch echoes other official invitations Uzbek officials have made since Trump’s return to office.

In April, an Uzbek delegation to Washington led by Foreign Minister Bakhtiyor Saidov passed the White House an official invitation, which US Ambassador to Uzbekistan Jonathan Henick told Uzbek reporters was well received, the Uzbek outlet Kun reported.

Uzbekistan has facilitated multiple deportation flights of Central Asian migrants from the United States, most recently on September 7, and has been keen to promote its significant deposits of critical minerals, both major Trump priorities. The visiting Uzbek delegation inked several mineral deals with US companies in April, and Trump and Mirziyoyev discussed critical minerals in addition to other business links over the phone on September 5.

Mirziyoyev made an official visit to the White House in 2018 during Trump’s first term, when Trump praised his Uzbek counterpart as a “highly respected man.”

Trump’s comments have generated lots of buzz in Kazakhstan, with some media outlets there interpreting much more from the president’s remarks than what he actually said, which seemed to get beefier in some translations.

Like Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan is eager to develop stronger economic connections with the United States. Trump’s decision to slap a 25% tariff on Kazakh exports, well above the 10% duties that he’s applied to the rest of Central Asia, initially took Astana by surprise. But the bulk of current trade turnover involves goods and commodities, including oil, that are exempted from tariffs. Still, Kazakh officials chafe at the fact that Jackson-Vanik trade restrictions on the Central Asian state have not been permanently lifted by the US Congress.

Tokayev said his country was ready to discuss tariffs and other outstanding issues in a July letter. Nothing has come of it yet, and the two men have not had a publicly confirmed conversation since Tokayev spoke with the president-elect in December 2024.

Central Asia is the only region of the world never visited by a US president.

Vice presidents Al Gore and Dick Cheney are the highest-ranking US officials to visit Central Asia. Cheney visited Astana in May 2006, and Gore visited Bishkek and Almaty in December 1993.

However, since the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991, every US secretary of state, apart from Rex Tillerson, has visited the region at least once during their tenure; Antony Blinken was the latest to visit the region in winter 2023, making stops in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

If Trump does visit, he’d be following in the footsteps of a growing number of western leaders making their way to Central Asia, eyeing the region’s natural resources and strategic position between Europe, the Middle East, Russia and China.

French President Emmanuel Macron visited Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in 2023 with uranium high on the agenda, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz did the same in September 2024 looking for natural gas supplies. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni both followed the same itinerary this year, with the aim of sealing deals for critical minerals and building out the Middle Corridor high on their respective agendas.

Alexander Thompson is a journalist based in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, reporting on current events across Central Asia. He previously worked for American newspapers, including the Charleston, S.C., Post and Courier and The Boston Globe.

This article was first published on Eurasianet here.