Trump Says US Will Bid to Host World Expo 2035 in Miami

The United States hasn’t hosted a World Expo since the early 1960s. The president sees it as the nation’s ‘next big milestone.’

Participants hold flags from 158 countries and organizations during a parade to express gratitude to everyone involved in the World Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, on Oct. 13, 2025. Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images

President Donald Trump said on Jan. 22 that the United States intends to bid on hosting World Expo 2035 in Miami.

“The Great State of Florida has expressed strong interest in hosting the Expo in Miami, which I fully support. Miami Expo 2035 can be the next big milestone in our new Golden Age of America,” Trump wrote on social media Thursday afternoon.

The president said he is appointing Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a Miami native, to lead “coordinating and advancing” the effort.

“We will create thousands of jobs, and add Billions of Dollars in GROWTH, to our Economy,” Trump added.

World Expos, also known officially as International Registered Exhibitions, are global gatherings of nations that focus on “finding solutions to pressing challenges of our time by offering a journey inside a universal theme through engaging and immersive activities,” according to the Bureau International des Expositions, an intergovernmental organization that oversees World Expos and other international events.

The most recent World Expo was hosted in Japan—Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai—and saw more than 29 million visitors with the theme “Designing Future Society for Our Lives.”

Saudi Arabia is slated to host the next World Expo in Riyadh between Oct. 1, 2030, and March 21, 2031, with the theme “Foresight for Tomorrow.”

London hosted the first World Expo, then called the Great Exhibition, in 1851. The concept quickly grew in popularity and was repeated worldwide.

“Since the [Bureau International des Expositions] was created in 1928 to regulate and oversee these mega-events, World Expos have explicitly been organized around a theme that attempts to improve humankind’s knowledge, takes into account human and social aspirations and highlights scientific, technological, economic and social progress,” the organization said on its website.

The United States hasn’t hosted a World Expo since the global event was held in Seattle in 1962. New York was a previous host in 1939, and Chicago hosted in 1933.

Trump, noting that he is honored as the 47th president to oversee the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence this summer and the G20 Doral Summit in December, said he is looking forward to “winning [the bid] and participating in the Miami Expo 2035.”

Also on Thursday, Trump signed the Board of Peace charter, launching a new international organization aimed at overseeing the peace process between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group while addressing other global conflicts.

The event came one day after the president met with world leaders and delivered a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.