United States President Donald Trump has began his Center East tour, arriving in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, simply after 10am, the place he was greeted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).
Throughout his three-day journey, he may even journey to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), with a give attention to securing financial agreements with three of the world’s wealthiest nations.
The journey will contain discussions on funding alternatives, and a few specialists say Trump might urge the Gulf international locations to decrease oil costs.
When will Trump be visiting every nation?
Trump arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday simply earlier than 10am native time (07:00 GMT), the place he was greeted by MBS. The identical day, he’s scheduled to attend a Saudi-US funding discussion board that includes main corporations resembling BlackRock, Citigroup, Palantir, Qualcomm, and Alphabet.
On Wednesday, he’s scheduled to participate in a Gulf summit in Riyadh, earlier than travelling to Qatar later that day. He’ll conclude his journey within the UAE on Thursday, Could 15.
Trump’s first go to as president was to Saudi Arabia
Throughout his first time period, 2017 to 2021, Trump grew to become the primary US president to make the Center East his first worldwide vacation spot, breaking with the longstanding custom of visiting neighbouring North American international locations first.
His journey to Saudi Arabia from Could 20 to 22, 2017 – throughout which he attended the Riyadh Summit – was a calculated transfer to bolster defence ties and safe substantial arms offers.
Throughout that journey, Trump additionally visited Israel and Palestine.
Whereas Trump didn’t go to Qatar or the UAE throughout his first time period, he met Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on the Riyadh Summit.
Through the summit, Trump and Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud signed a $110bn arms deal, together with missile defence methods, tanks, fight ships and cybersecurity know-how, with the intent of shopping for $350bn price of arms over 10 years.
A memorable second from that 2017 journey to Saudi Arabia was throughout the inauguration of the International Heart for Combating Extremist Ideology in Riyadh. In a surreal picture op that shortly went viral, Trump stood alongside King Salman and President el-Sisi with their fingers on a glowing orb.
What’s the worth of US-Gulf investments?
Sami al-Arian, director of the Heart for Islam and International Affairs at Istanbul Zaim College, advised Al Jazeera that Trump has been very vocal about his goal in visiting the three Gulf states: investments.
Trump’s administration has reportedly mentioned the opportunity of expediting investments by Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE earlier than his journey to the area.
“He’s making an attempt to get trillions of {dollars} out of those international locations,” al-Arian advised Al Jazeera.
“He’s already stated that he’s hoping to get $1 trillion from Saudi Arabia by way of arms gross sales and business offers,” he stated.
US-Saudi investments
In response to the most recent knowledge from the US Division of Commerce, the full inventory of US overseas direct funding (FDI) in Saudi Arabia reached $11.3bn in 2023.
Conversely, Saudi Arabia’s FDI inventory within the US stood at $9.6bn, largely in transport, actual property, plastics, automotive, monetary companies and communications, in accordance with the Commerce Division.
These figures are solely FDI, not different investments, like portfolio investments or short-term monetary flows.
US-Qatar investments
In 2023, the full inventory of US FDI in Qatar was estimated at $2.5bn.
In response to the US-Qatar Enterprise Council, US corporations which have facilitated FDIs in Qatar targeted on the fields of power, petrochemicals, building, engineering, and communications know-how.
Conversely, Qatari FDI inventory within the US reached $3.3bn in 2023, with investments concentrated in monetary companies, power and actual property.
US-UAE investments
In 2023, the full inventory of US FDI within the UAE reached $16.1bn.
In response to the Reuters information company, in 2023, the principle FDI drivers have been manufacturing, finance and insurance coverage, building and wholesale and retail commerce sectors.
In the meantime, UAE FDI inventory within the US totalled $35bn in 2023 – in monetary companies, transport, meals and drinks, aerospace, and enterprise companies, in accordance with the Commerce Division.
In March, UAE Nationwide Safety Adviser Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan met Trump and dedicated $1.4 trillion in investments to the US over 10 years in sectors resembling synthetic intelligence, semiconductors, power and manufacturing.
Weapons commerce between the nations
The US is the largest exporter of arms globally and a high provider to Gulf international locations.
Qatar and Saudi Arabia every accounted for six.8 % of the world’s complete arms imports for 2020-24, making them the third and fourth largest importers globally.
The UAE is the eleventh largest importer of arms, accounting for two.6 % of worldwide imports for a similar interval.
Saudi Arabia is the principle recipient of US arms, in accordance with the Stockholm Worldwide Peace Analysis Institute (SIPRI). Between 2020 and 2024, Saudi Arabia acquired 12 % of the US’s complete arms exports.
About 74 % of Saudi arms imports come from the US.
Trump is poised to supply Saudi Arabia an arms bundle price greater than $100bn throughout his journey, in accordance with Reuters.
Within the 2020-24 interval, the US was the highest provider of arms to Qatar, accounting for 48 % of its imports.
In March, the US Division of State accepted a big weapons bundle to Qatar price $2bn, which incorporates long-range maritime surveillance drones and lots of of missiles and bombs.
In the identical interval, the US was additionally the highest provider of weapons to the UAE, accounting for 42 % of the nation’s arms imports.
