Asia25 September, 20263 min read
Trump Backs India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor Amid Iran War And Strait Of Hormuz Risks
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Trump backs India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor to shift energy routes away from Iranian checkpoints Iran conflict raises risks to Gulf chokepoints and global shipping critical to IMEC interest
6 outlets told this the same way.
Trump revives IMEC push
US President Donald Trump backed the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) during a meeting with Gulf Cooperation Council and Arab leaders on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, saying his administration “strongly supports” the corridor. Trump linked the renewed push to the Iran war and to attacks on commercial shipping, arguing that “Iran’s terrorist attacks on commercial shipping in neighbouring countries have shown the need to shift Middle East energy infrastructure away from the Iranian checkpoints.” Maritime Gateway said IMEC was unveiled at the G20 Summit in New Delhi in September 2023 by India, the United States, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, France, Germany, Italy and the European Union, and it envisages an eastern corridor connecting India to the Gulf and a northern corridor linking the Gulf with Europe.
Maritime Gateway described the plan as a multimodal network in which goods arriving from India by sea would be transferred onto rail networks across the Gulf and onward towards the Mediterranean before continuing to European markets, with the UAE occupying a pivotal position as the maritime-to-rail gateway. Gulf News said IMEC combines shipping and rail links, supplemented by infrastructure for electricity, digital connectivity and clean hydrogen, and it framed the project as a resilience response to disruption around the Strait of Hormuz.
Route design and stalled progress
IMEC was unveiled at the G20 Summit in New Delhi in September 2023 by India, the United States, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, France, Germany, Italy and the European Union, and it envisages an eastern corridor connecting India to the Gulf and a northern corridor linking the Gulf with Europe. The plan was described as a multimodal network in which goods arriving from India by sea would be transferred onto rail networks across the Gulf and onward towards the Mediterranean before continuing to European markets, with the UAE occupying a pivotal position as the maritime-to-rail gateway. IMEC combines shipping and rail links, supplemented by infrastructure for electricity, digital connectivity and clean hydrogen, and it framed the project as a resilience response to disruption around the Strait of Hormuz.
IMEC is meant to provide India with an alternate multimodal route to European markets, potentially saving time and cost, while also deepening India’s trade ties across the regions and opening opportunities in energy, digital connectivity and clean hydrogen. Trade experts estimated IMEC could reduce logistics costs by up to 30% and cut transportation time by around 40% for the participating economies, which it described as accounting for a combined GDP of $47 trillion and a consumer base of 2.25 billion people.
Energy security stakes
The IMEC corridor was jointly unveiled at the G20 summit in New Delhi in 2023 by the US, India, Saudi Arabia, UAE, EU, Italy, France, and Germany, and it described two broad sections: an eastern leg connecting India to the Gulf and a northern leg linking the Gulf to Europe. Cargo would sail from India to the UAE, move by rail across Saudi Arabia and Jordan to Israel’s Mediterranean coast, and then travel by sea from Haifa toward European ports. The corridor is not by itself a single oil pipeline designed to replace Hormuz, describing it instead as a trade and connectivity network.
Trump’s remarks put renewed focus on IMEC at a time when months of conflict have disrupted traditional energy routes and highlighted the vulnerability of the Strait of Hormuz. The conflict has demonstrated the risks created when a large share of global energy trade depends on a narrow waterway exposed to military confrontation, and it said those concerns pushed alternative routes higher up the regional agenda.