US Focus on Central Asian Rare Earth Minerals Sparks Geopolitical Debate
According to the International Desk of Webangah News Agency, the United States’ growing interest in exploiting the mineral resources of Central Asia, especially its rare earth elements, and the policy approaches of the Trump administration have triggered reactions and concerns among Central Asian nations, with the consequences of this development being debated in expert circles.
U.S. Interest in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan: Kazakhstan is among the Central Asian countries where the United States has expressed significant interest in extensive mineral resource exploitation. In November 2025, representatives from Skyline Builders, a company with prior stakes held by entities linked to Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, announced an agreement with the National Mining Company of Kazakhstan.
This news garnered widespread coverage in global economic media early in the spring. While initially appearing as a standard economic development, The Financial Times, citing its sources, reported that entities connected to Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump had agreed to merge with a major mining holding. This holding reportedly received approximately $1.6 billion in state support from the United States for the development of one of the world’s largest untapped tungsten reserves in Kazakhstan.
The Trump family initially acquired a portion of the shares in the construction group Skyline Builders, subsequently increasing their involvement to eventually own 20 percent of the Kazakh company Kaz Resources. Kaz Resources controls the Cove Kaz mining complex. Company representatives announced an agreement with the National Mining Company of Kazakhstan in November 2025. On April 30, 2026, both parties finalized an agreement for a merger and the subsequent listing of the new company’s shares on the NASDAQ stock exchange in the United States.
In February 2026, the United States and Uzbekistan signed a memorandum of understanding regarding cooperation in critical minerals. Additionally, the American company Traxys announced a $1 billion investment in Uzbekistan’s mineral extraction and processing sector. Concurrently, the European Union and the United Nations launched a joint project for the extraction of green minerals in the region. The objective of this collaboration is to extract and manage resources such as copper, lithium, and rare earth elements, which are essential for advancing technologies related to the transition to clean, non-fossil fuel energy sources. Kazakhstan has also begun processing gallium and antimony and has reached an agreement with Uzbekistan on cooperation in the extraction and export of certain rare earth elements.
Developments Beyond Economic Transactions: While these news items ostensibly pertain to commercial transactions between several mining and investment firms, on a broader level, they signify a crucial shift in the West’s, particularly the United States’, geoeconomic strategy in Central Asia. If, in previous decades, the competition among major powers was concentrated on controlling the region’s oil and gas resources, the accelerating global transition towards a digital economy, advanced defense industries, and clean energy has now placed critical and rare minerals at the forefront of new geopolitical competition.
The significance of these deals is amplified by their timing amidst intensifying strategic competition between the United States and China. In recent years, China has not only emerged as the largest producer of rare earth elements but also as a key player in the processing of many strategic minerals, including tungsten, rare earth elements, antimony, lithium, molybdenum, gallium, and germanium. In response, the United States, following China’s imposition of export restrictions on some of these materials, is actively seeking to establish alternative supply chains outside of China. In this context, Central Asia, due to its vast mineral reserves, has become one of the most important target regions for U.S. industrial policy and economic security.
The involvement of companies affiliated with the Trump family in Kazakhstan’s mining projects should also be analyzed within this framework. The presence of these companies is not merely a private investment but, from the perspective of many analysts, represents a component of the broader trend of integrating U.S. private capital with the nation’s geoeconomic objectives. This is particularly true given that the project in question benefits from U.S. government financial support and is slated to attract further capital through its listing on NASDAQ. This model facilitates the influx of substantial Western capital into Central Asia’s mining sector.
Furthermore, these developments have the potential to alter the balance of competition among major powers in Central Asia. Russia has maintained its traditional influence in the region’s energy and infrastructure sectors for decades, while China, through its Belt and Road Initiative, has become the largest foreign investor in numerous infrastructure and mining projects. Now, the United States is endeavoring to strengthen its position in the region by investing in strategic mines and consequently limiting China’s economic influence.
From an economic security standpoint, the importance of these developments extends far beyond the mining sector. Today, tungsten, rare earth elements, gallium, germanium, and antimony are essential raw materials for numerous sensitive technologies, including missile systems, aerospace engines, electronic equipment, semiconductors, electric vehicles, wind turbines, and artificial intelligence industries. Consequently, control over the supply chains of these materials has become a critical component of major powers’ national security. In this regard, the transactions involving the Trump family can be seen as an indicator of the commencement of a new phase of geoeconomic and strategic competition over control of Central Asia’s vital mineral resources—a competition that is likely to assume broader economic, technological, security, and even political dimensions in the coming years, further elevating the region’s standing in global equations.
Central Asian Countries’ Strategies to Escape Raw Material Exports: Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Central Asia became a primary target for Western investment. American and European investors, after two decades of concerted efforts, successfully solidified their positions in the mining sectors of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, as well as in Kyrgyzstan’s gold extraction industry.
Analysts believe that global competition for access to vital mineral resources is intensifying. However, foreign investor attention is predominantly focused on the extraction of these resources, while deep processing projects and the transformation of raw minerals into higher-value products within Central Asian countries are progressing at a significantly slower pace. If domestic processing industries are not established and completed, a substantial portion of raw materials will be exported without generating added value within Central Asian nations.
Local experts in Central Asia warn of the primary risk: the transfer of control over indigenous mines to foreign companies, coupled with a lack of development in domestic processing industries. In such a scenario, the region would persist with an economic framework reliant on raw material exports. The interest of investors in mineral extraction does not necessarily equate to their willingness to establish local industrial supply chains, resulting in the majority of profits derived from these activities accruing outside the region, solely to the benefit of the United States.
Nevertheless, there are indications of a shift in this pattern. In recent years, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have sought to modify their mining policies. Kazakhstan has formulated plans to develop processing industries, produce high-purity metals, and participate in the global semiconductor production chain. Uzbekistan has also made foreign investment conditional upon the establishment of mineral processing units and downstream industries to prevent raw material exports.
Some experts emphasize the necessity of reviewing mining laws and expanding geological exploration activities in Central Asian countries. Without adequate domestic expertise and appropriate legal frameworks, negotiations with major foreign players may lead to an unequal distribution of bargaining power, allowing the United States to unilaterally advance its exploitation agenda.
Local experts state that while no one desires the isolation of the Eurasian region, the development of international cooperation must take into account the long-term economic interests of the region’s nations. The most crucial principle in this regard is the exercise of rationality and a focus on the collective interests of the region’s populations, rather than solely specific groups.
Ultimately, the most critical issue for Central Asian countries is not merely attracting foreign investment but the manner in which these investments are managed. If the region’s governments can maintain control over mines while linking foreign capital to technology transfer, the development of processing industries, human capital training, and the creation of domestic value chains, mineral resources can become an engine for industrial development. However, if investments are confined solely to the extraction and export of raw materials, the risk of perpetuating the raw material-dependent economic model and continued reliance on external actors will persist.
Today, the central question for Central Asian countries is not solely about extracting mineral resources but whether the region’s governments can maintain genuine control over their strategic assets, develop processing industries, and retain value addition within their own territories. Ultimately, the matter is not merely about geopolitical preferences but about the fundamental economic interests of the region’s nations—interests that should form the basis for formulating any balanced, multilateral foreign and economic policy in Central Asia.
