U.S. President Donald Trump has already demonstrated that American leadership can shape the future of the South Caucasus. After visiting Turkey this week to take part in the NATO leaders’ summit, he should apply the same pragmatic approach to help open the Armenian-Turkish border and strengthen the U.S. position in this strategically important region, The Washington Times writes.

According to the publication, in August 2025 Trump invited Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to the White House. This led to the creation of the “Trump Route,” or TRIPP, a practical initiative that turns diplomacy into significant economic opportunities both for the region and for the United States.

Now Trump should use the same model in his engagement with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Opening the Armenian-Turkish border will help turn peace into real economic progress and give the United States a more substantial role in a more stable South Caucasus.

American leadership can create new trade opportunities in a strategically important region without sending troops and without writing “blank checks.”

Armenia and Turkey are bound by a complicated history. The events of 1915 remain vivid in the memory of Armenians around the world. Opening the border will not erase the past, and no Armenian leader can ask people to forget it. As the article notes, Armenia and Turkey must reach an agreement on their own, but Trump can help facilitate it.