Kazakhstan signed a deal to buy $4.2 billion worth of US locomotives and rail equipment amid a push by President Donald Trump to deepen economic ties with Central Asia.
Kazakhstan will buy 300 locomotives from Pennsylvania-based Wabtec Corp. in the largest locomotive deal in history, the US Commerce Department said in a September 22 statement.
“This landmark deal advances US manufacturing jobs and accelerates growth, opportunity, and connectivity in America and Central Asia,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said during a signing ceremony in New York with Kazakh President Qasym-Zhomart Toqaev.
US President Donald Trump earlier in the day spoke by phone with Toqaev, who is in the United States to attend the United Nations General Assembly.
Trump is seeking to strengthen trade and investment ties with resource-rich Central Asia as he focuses on ending US dependence on China for critical minerals, including rare earths.
During his visit to the UN, Toqaev will meet with the chief executive officers of several US companies. The meeting is being organized by the US Chamber of Commerce, which earlier this month led executives from 25 US companies on a trade mission to Kazakhstan, its largest-ever business delegation to the Central Asian country.
Next month, the Chamber will host its first ever business mission to neighboring Uzbekistan, the largest country in Central Asia by population. Trump earlier this month spoke with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoev to discuss investment. In late August he sent Special Envoy for Global Partnerships Paolo Zampolli to Tashkent to meet with Mirziyoev.
Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are rich in uranium, which fuel nuclear power plants, and rare earths, elements needed to make permanent magnets. China dominates the mining and refining of rare earths and production of magnets, giving it leverage in trade negotiations with the United States.
Trump interest in the region comes as China accelerates investments in Central Asia’s mining industry over the past year. Experts say that Central Asian nations are seeking US investment to counterbalance Chinese influence.
The Trump administration has shown a determination to use economic statecraft tools like Export-Import Bank, the US government’s foreign trade lending arm, and the Development and Financial Corp (DFC), the US foreign investment arm, to back US business deals.
Export-Import Bank supported Wabtec’s Kazakh rail deal with a $400 million loan.
