President Donald Trump is scheduled to host the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan at the White House on Friday, where they are expected to finalize a peace agreement that would grant the United States exclusive development access to a critical transit corridor in the South Caucasus, which will be named after Trump, according to White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly.
“This will allow unimpeded connectivity between the two countries while respecting Armenia, sovereignty and territorial integrity and its people,” Kelly said.
Trump announced the deal in a social media post on Thursday ahead of his meeting with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, touting it as an agreement with the two nations “to pursue Economic opportunities together, so we can fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus Region.”
Armenia plans to grant the US long-term, exclusive rights to develop a newly designated transportation route through its territory as part of the forthcoming agreements.
And in a concession sure to delight Trump, who has sought to brand himself in his first six months in office as a global peacemaker, the corridor will be called the TRIPP — the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity.
The project will operate under Armenian legal jurisdiction, and the United States will in turn lease the land to a consortium responsible for construction and management, according to a senior administration official.
“Working groups will launch immediately to fully implement the details of the roadmap over the coming months. By locking in this path to peace, we are unlocking the great potential of the South Caucasus region in trade, transit, and energy flows,” the official added.
The deal is the latest in a string of diplomatic pacts that the White House has played a role in brokering around the globe. It comes on the heels of a ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand that was reached late last month, after Trump threatened to cut off trade talks with both countries if they continued to fight each other.
“I stopped five wars in the last five months,” Trump said earlier this week. “You just take a look at the ones just over the last two or three months, it’s been amazing.”
White House officials have prioritized the diplomatic efforts in a bid to follow through on Trump’s campaign pledge to end wars across the world. The administration has highlighted its work on smaller-scale conflicts even as Trump struggles to resolve the two wars that more directly involve the US: Israel’s war in Gaza and Russia’s incursion into Ukraine.
And for Trump himself, there is an added motivation: Each peace deal, the president has argued, should bring him closer to winning the Nobel Peace Prize that he’s coveted for years.
The president has long complained about the decision to award former President Barack Obama the prize in 2009, at the start of his first term. And in recent months, Trump has increasingly pushed for receiving the same recognition — multiple foreign leaders have now nominated the president for the award to curry favor with him.
In addition to the peace framework between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the countries’ heads of state will endorse a formal request to disband the Minsk Group. The group, established in 1992 and co-chaired by France, Russia and the US, has long been tasked with mediating the dispute between the two nations.
“President Trump will sign deals with both Armenia and Azerbaijan that will unlock our relationships with each country and the region while benefiting American businesses,” Kelly said.
A senior administration official said the Trump administration identified the transportation corridor as a strategic opportunity in the South Caucasus as early as the end of February. Formal negotiations to determine which US entities will operate the transit corridor are expected to begin next week.
“What President Trump is going to sign today is a directive to set up the TRIPP negotiating team,” the official said, adding that the administration has received calls from nine potential candidates — including three US-based operators.
“This entire area has been shrouded in Russian language and Russian domination for many, many years,” the official added. “What President Trump has done is he’s taken the politics out of the picture and made common sense available.”
The trilateral signing coincides with a key deadline set by Trump for Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to steps to halt his invasion of Ukraine or face further economic sanctions.
This story has been updated with additional context.