Will US President Donald Trump Visit Central Asia?

As U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s planned trip to Uzbekistan – at the head of a large delegation of American businesses – approaches, once again Central Asian governments and people are angling for a presidential visit. Both Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have repeatedly invited Trump to make the trek; he’d be very welcome in the region and they’re hoping the novelty of being the “first” will get them on the presidential calendar. In an interview with an Uzbek TV station, U.S. Special Representative for Global Partnerships Paolo Zampolli, said, “I know [Trump] wants to come to Uzbekistan. The president has an extremely busy schedule. But he told me about his intention to visit Uzbekistan. I myself am constantly promoting this issue. So, he will definitely visit Uzbekistan one day. We hope this visit will take place as soon as possible.” That’s not exactly a firm commitment from a notoriously fickle administration, no matter the rabid headlines about the comments. There has been no shortage of U.S. officials traveling to Central Asia since the dawn of the second Trump presidency. These include an October 2025 trip to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan by Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and Sergio Gor, concurrently the U.S. ambassador to India and also special envoy for South and Central Asian affairs. In February 2026, Gor returned to Central Asia, visiting Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. In July 2026, Senator Steve Daines, a Republican from Montana – who co-founded the bipartisan Senate Central Asia Caucus in 2024 – traveled to Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan (and also Azerbaijan). U.S. engagement with Central Asia has shifted from Afghanistan – an all-encompassing subject that dominated relations from 2001 to 2021 – to critical minerals, an especially hot topic for governments keen on dealmaking. In November 2025, amid the fanfare of the C5+1 summit in Washington, in which all five Central Asian presidents were welcomed to the White House for the first time (although it was not the first presidential level C5+1 summit, as some have erroneously reported) – Rubio declared his intention to visit all five Central Asian states in the coming year. “I personally intend to visit in the coming year,” he said during a reception after meeting with his Central Asian counterparts, as reported by Reuters. “All five,” Rubio added. “So I know it would probably be a week-long trip. So we’ve got to work on that and make that happen together.” To date, the highest-ranking U.S. official to complete what I dubbed the “grand Stan slam” was then-Secretary of State John Kerry in 2015. It was during that trip that the C5+1, at the foreign ministers level, was launched in Samarkand, a month after a preview event on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Rubio’s own envisioned “grand Stan slam” has been apparently whittled down to a trip to Samarkand, with a heavy business focus. According to a September 24 press release published by the U.S. embassy in India, and attributed to Gor, Rubio “will lead a historic business delegation of more than 100 American companies to Samarkand, Uzbekistan in mid-October to advance the U.S.-Central Asia strategic partnership and strengthen bilateral diplomatic and commercial cooperation.” The Diplomat has heard rumored dates for the trip, but they have yet to be confirmed publicly. And that’s of little surprise. Not only is Rubio serving as secretary of state, but he’s also national security adviser – a role he took over on an interim basis in May 2025 after Michael Waltz flamed out by inviting a journalist into a high-level Signal chat. That role was made permanent on September 22. Rubio’s the second person to wear both hats simultaneously – the first was Henry Kissinger under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. All that to say: Rubio is a busy guy. The planned trip to Samarkand could, frankly speaking, be spoiled by any number of sudden crises. Aside from Zampolli’s recent comment that Trump “wants” to come to Uzbekistan, there’s been no official word on that front. Trump is often discussed as disliking international travel. Of the three most recent presidents – Barack Obama (2009-2016) Trump 1.0 (2017-2020), and Joe Biden (2021-2024) he’s made the fewest international trips and visited the fewest foreign countries. Obama made a total of 25 foreign trips during his first term, Trump made 19, and Biden 21. The statistics alone don’t tell the full story. Trump’s presidency ended with the COVID-19 outbreak, and Biden’s began with its lingering impact. So far in his second term, Trump has made 14 foreign trips – six in 2025 and eight so far in 2026. Trump is scheduled, officially, for one more international trip this year: from November 16 to 19, to attend the ASEAN Summit and the East Asia Summit in the Philippines and then to attend the APEC Summit in Shenzhen, China. The year is drawing to a close, rapidly. The looming mid-term elections, scheduled for November 3 – and not looking good, per most polls, for the president’s party – might jerk Trump’s attention back to the domestic arena, making a late-year junket to Tashkent nearly impossible and potentially ruining future plans, too. Trump does have two years left in his term, so a Central Asia visit may eventuate – he could also visit any of the more than 75 other countries a U.S. president has never traveled to while in office. Spoilers abound both internationally and domestically that could dash the highest of hopes for a U.S. president to finally step foot in Central Asia. But hope springs eternal.