President Donald Trump is reportedly weighing a radical geopolitical experiment: the creation of a five-nation “Core 5” (C5) superclub that would bring together the United States, Russia, China, India, and Japan. According to reporting from Politico via Defense One, the idea — floated in an unpublished draft of the US National Security Strategy — appears designed as a potential replacement for the Western-led G7, effectively sidelining Europe from the centre of global decision-making.
Although the White House has not confirmed the existence of such a proposal, the concept aligns with hints Trump has dropped publicly. At the June G7 summit, he openly argued for bringing Russia back into the fold and even suggested including China, calling Russia’s expulsion in 2014 a “very big mistake.” His argument that Putin’s exclusion “made life more complicated” is now seen as the ideological seed behind the C5 concept.
Under the reported framework, the Core 5 would hold regular summits comparable to the G7, each dedicated to major global issues. Early drafts even identified a priority agenda: Middle East stabilisation, with a particular focus on normalising relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. Bringing Riyadh into a future expansion of the Abraham Accords remains a central foreign-policy ambition of Trump’s second term.
If implemented, the C5 would represent a decisive pivot away from Washington’s long-standing reliance on European partners. It would elevate major Asian powers — especially India and Japan — while positioning Russia and China not as adversaries to be countered, but as essential co-architects of a “great-power club.” Analysts note that such a configuration reflects Trump’s worldview: one that emphasises strength, spheres of influence, and transactional cooperation among dominant states rather than ideology.
The proposal also implicitly sidelines existing frameworks like the Quad (US–India–Japan–Australia), raising questions about how current Indo-Pacific strategies would be reshaped. Defense One reported that although the C5 idea appeared in the draft strategy, it was not included in the final version released on December 5. Nonetheless, its mere consideration signals the scale of reorientation Trump is contemplating.
The renewed speculation comes as US–India ties have begun to recover after months of tension. Trump’s decision to impose 50% tariffs on Indian imports and friction over a stalled trade deal strained bilateral relations earlier this year. However, a series of direct conversations between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi — including what Modi described as a “very warm” call this week — have helped thaw the diplomatic freeze.
For Washington, India now appears increasingly central to Trump’s recalibrated global strategy. For New Delhi, inclusion in a bloc with the world’s three largest military powers would represent both an unprecedented opportunity and a profound strategic dilemma.
