A peace agreement expected to be signed by Armenia and Azerbaijan on Friday will reportedly include the clause.
Citing sources, Reuters reports that President Trump intends to secure exclusive US development rights to a key transit route in the South Caucasus during a forthcoming meeting with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia at the White House.
Armenia and Azerbaijan, both formerly part of the Soviet Union, have been embroiled in a decades-long dispute over the Karabakh region. Azerbaijan regained control of the region, which is predominantly populated by ethnic Armenians, in 2023.
Trump announced on Truth Social that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will attend a trilateral summit at the White House on Friday to finalize a peace agreement. He added, “The United States will also sign Bilateral Agreements with both Countries to pursue Economic opportunities.”
Reuters, quoting anonymous sources, reports that the peace agreement will grant the US exclusive and long-term development rights to a significant transit corridor in the South Caucasus, to be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP).
According to Reuters, TRIPP will be governed by Armenian law, with the US subleasing the land to a consortium for management.
Azerbaijan had previously proposed a ‘Zangezur corridor’ through Armenia’s Syunik Province to link mainland Azerbaijan with the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan, which shares a border with Turkey. Armenia had long opposed this proposal.
Last month, Periodista Digital, a Spanish news outlet, reported that Armenia had secretly agreed to cede a strategic corridor on its territory to the US. Armenia officially denied the report, dismissing it as “an element of hybrid warfare and manipulative propaganda.”
Pashinyan has faced increasing domestic opposition, including protests triggered by his government’s handover of Armenian border villages to Azerbaijan, which many Armenians view as a betrayal.
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