Rubio leads US delegation to Central Asia to expand trade and strategic influence

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio embarked on a high-profile diplomatic tour to Central Asia and India, leading a major business delegation to deepen commercial ties and counterbalance the influence of Russia and China.

The top US diplomat is scheduled to land in Samarkand on Sunday to meet with leaders from the C5+1, a grouping that brings together the United States and the Muslim-majority post-Soviet states of Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.

Rubio traveled to Samarkand to participate in ministerial talks with Central Asian leaders, focusing heavily on commercial diplomacy, energy cooperation, and expanding access to critical rare earth mineral resources.

Accompanied by more than 200 business executives, the push aims to establish lasting American economic and corporate footprints along strategic regional corridors.

Following Uzbekistan, Rubio headed to Mumbai and Jamnagar to meet with corporate leaders—including a focus on infrastructure and energy investments—to advance ongoing bilateral trade discussions.

While Rubio steers a commercial and strategic offensive in Central and South Asia, other U.S. special envoys and officials continue managing critical developments across traditional foreign policy hot spots.

US officials have portrayed resource-rich Central Asia — the region between China, Russia and Iran — as worthy of more attention than it received from US President Donald Trump's predecessors.

Trump hosted C5 leaders at the White House last November, when Kazakhstan agreed to join the Abraham Accords, a series of agreements under which Muslim-majority countries have normalized or deepened relations with Israel.

Separately, Trump met with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev at the United Nations General Assembly last September.

Regional politics aside, the trip fits an emerging pattern in which Rubio often visits regions not at the center of the news cycle, while leaving some more fraught foreign-policy portfolios to other Trump aides, including special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner and Vice President JD Vance.

More than 200 business executives will accompany Rubio to Uzbekistan, the State Department said.

The Central Asian diplomat said the Trump administration has focused its commercial efforts on expanding access to the area's rare earth mineral resources.

After Uzbekistan, Rubio will visit the Indian cities of Mumbai and Jamnagar to meet with business leaders, including Reliance Industries, Chairman Mukesh Ambani, who earned the Trump administration's favor earlier in the year by backing a new refinery in Texas.

As reported, the trip is due to wrap up on Thursday, October 22, 2026.

Rubio's previous foreign trip, in early October, took him to Greece, Portugal and Iceland.