Armenia, Azerbaijan sign Trump-brokered peace deal where US gains exclusive access to key transit corridor

With a Nobel Peace Prize in his mind, US President Donald Trump hosted the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan at the White House on Friday, where the two nations finalised a peace agreement. However, that deal would also grant the United States exclusive development access to a critical transit corridor in the South Caucasus.

Interestingly, the corridor is even expected to be named after Trump. The deal signed on Friday is aimed at quelling long-simmering tensions between the two nations, while opening up both nations for greater economic development.

But what garnered attention was the fact that the deal granted the US long-term, exclusive rights to carve a new transportation route through Armenian territory. “Many tried to find a resolution,” Trump said on Friday alongside Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan. “But with this accord, we’ve finally succeeded in making peace," he boasted.

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TRIPP: The ‘global peacemaker’ with vested interests

The deal is sure to delight Trump because, in return, he is getting the right to form a corridor which will be called the TRIPP — the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. It is pertinent to note that in his first six months in the office, Trump has branded himself as a so-called “global peacemaker”. However, many warned that the deal comes with a cost.

According to CNN, 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. “This declaration establishes what they are calling a great honour for me — I didn’t ask for this,” Trump said of the decision to name the corridor after him.

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The deal came days after the White House administered a ceasefire deal between Thailand and Cambodia. The deal between the two Asian nations was reached last month after Trump threatened to cut off trade talks with both countries if they continued to fight each other.

“I was talking to one of the two nations on trade, and I said, ‘I’m not going to sign a trade deal if you guys are going to fight,’” Trump said. “We got it stopped.” Meanwhile, the White House officials have prioritised the diplomatic efforts in a bid to follow through on Trump’s campaign pledge to end wars around the world.

Trump’s hopes for a Nobel

The administration kept on boasting about their work even on smaller-scale conflicts, while Trump struggles to resolve two of the biggest wars in recent history - Israel’s war in Gaza and Russia’s incursion into Ukraine. However, Trump has a vested interest in these peace deals.

A White House official said that Trump believes that each peace deal should bring him closer to winning the Nobel Peace Prize that he’s coveted for years. In the past, Trump has often cribbed about the decision to award former US President Barack Obama the prize in 2009, at the start of his first term.

Keeping Trump’s hopes and aspirations in mind, multiple foreign leaders have nominated the president for the Peace Prize to curry favour with him — the Armenian prime minister and Azerbaijani president on Friday became the latest to endorse his candidacy for the award. “Who, if not President Trump, deserves the Nobel Peace Prize?” Aliyev said, as Trump looked on. “President Trump, in six months, did a miracle.”

Another crucial part of the deal was that the heads of both Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed to endorse a formal request to disband the Minsk Group. It is pertinent to note that the group was established in 1992 and co-chaired by France, Russia and the US and has long been tasked with mediating the dispute between the two nations.

“Thirty-five years of death and hatred — and now it’s going to be love and respect and success together,” Trump said of the pact between Armenia and Azerbaijan, beaming as the foreign leaders shook hands in front of him.