Jumbo jets, megadeals and flattery: Trump’s Gulf tour

Because the Village Folks’s anthem YMCA blared throughout the ballroom, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman strode to the stage the place Donald Trump had simply delivered a speech replete with boasts about his presidency and superlatives describing the “unimaginable” Saudi royal.

With big Saudi and American flags behind him, a beaming Prince Mohammed clasped the US president’s hand, whereas Trump gripped the inheritor obvious’s shoulder. “I like him so much,” Trump mentioned. “I like him an excessive amount of.”

It was an embrace that epitomised the tenor of Trump’s journey to the oil-rich Gulf, with stops in Saudi Arabia and even wealthier Qatar and the United Arab Emirates: a four-day jamboree of opulent ceremonies, unabashed flattery and, above all, a glut of petrodollar-fuelled offers the transactional president so cherishes.

“Are we doing a superb job to this point for America?” Trump mentioned as he walked by the convention centre. “They’re solely placing in a trillion {dollars}.”

As is usually the case with Trump, there gave the impression to be loads of hyperbole, making it onerous to separate reality from fiction. The White Home mentioned $600bn in offers was agreed, together with a $142bn arms deal in addition to investments in synthetic intelligence and vitality.

At slightly below $300bn, the precise listed agreements got here to half that determine, although Prince Mohammed mentioned the plan within the coming months was to extend it to $1tn.

The US president had made no secret that financial offers could be the main target of the go to after selecting the autocratic Gulf — slightly than American’s western allies — for the primary international tour of his second time period, understanding there could be no speak or tariffs or commerce wars, nor public challenges to his world view.

Mixed, the three Gulf states handle greater than $3tn in sovereign wealth funds and are conventional US companions which have traditionally seemed to Washington for safety and are massive patrons of American weaponry.

Every has bold leaders who need to mission their states on the worldwide stage as they pursue lofty home growth objectives that embody pouring tens of billions of {dollars} into American expertise, notably AI, as they search to develop new industries and cut back their dependence on fossil fuels.

Pissed off with swings in US insurance policies, they’ve lengthy needed higher dedication from Washington on commerce and safety, and have been actively courting Trump since his first time period, embracing his transactional fashion even when they’re cautious of his unpredictability. 

However the journey additionally got here towards a backdrop of obvious Trump household self-dealing that raised hackles at residence. Forward of the journey this month the Trump Group, run by the president’s son Eric, launched a lodge in Dubai and struck an actual property deal involving a Qatari state-owned firm.

For weeks, groups from the US and the Gulf states thrashed out particulars of what offers might be inked, guaranteeing the tone of the go to was set by the point Air Drive One — escorted by six Saudi fighter jets — touched down in Riyadh on Tuesday morning.

Prince Mohammed broke Saudi protocol to greet Trump on the airport and stroll him down a lavender carpet surrounded by a guard of honour. It was a stark distinction to the frostier welcome that greeted President Joe Biden, who exchanged an ungainly fist bump with Prince Mohammed on his go to in 2022.

On Wednesday, Trump acquired one other regal welcome in Doha from Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, the emir of Qatar — extra fighter jet escorts and extra guards of honour.

Trump revelled within the royal pomp and conspicuous wealth, marvelling on the “perfecto” marble of a palace and camels ridden by members of the royal guard.

“I respect these camels,” he mentioned. “I haven’t seen camels like that in a very long time.”

Qatar, one of many world’s wealthiest nations in per capita phrases, additionally delivered on the deal entrance. The White Home introduced agreements value greater than $243bn, together with Qatar buying 210 Boeing jets, which Trump bragged was the most important order of jets within the American firm’s historical past.

There was additionally a seemingly aspirational line about settlement with Qatar to generate an “financial trade” value not less than $1.2tn, because the White Home stored totting up the numbers to again Trump’s “America first” funding coverage. However as soon as once more, it gave no particulars or timelines on how the determine — equal to greater than 500 per cent of the Gulf nation’s annual GDP — could be reached.

A Qatari official mentioned it included all anticipated commerce between the 2 nations, reminiscent of vitality gross sales, arms offers and different investments over the following 10 years. That features an intent by the Qatar Funding Authority, the $450bn sovereign wealth fund, to take a position $500bn within the US over the following decade. 

There was no point out of the Qatari “present” to Trump that had stirred controversy within the lead up the journey: Doha’s supply of offering the US with an opulent jumbo jet to briefly substitute Air Drive One. 

However Trump was in good spirits as he in contrast Sheikh Tamim to Saudi’s Prince Mohammed as each “tall, good-looking guys that occur to be very sensible”.

Probably the most important diplomatic breakthrough got here courtesy of a special “younger, enticing” chief: Ahmed al-Sharaa, the Syrian president and former Islamist insurgent chief whom Trump met after a shock announcement that the US would carry sanctions on the war-shattered nation.

There was little public consideration to the 19-month warfare in Gaza, nevertheless. Sheikh Tamim did make a plea to Trump to assist finish the warfare throughout a banquet at one in every of his palaces, saying that it was “the important thing to wider stability within the area”.

“Time is brief. The folks throughout the area are watching not for phrases, however for outcomes,” he mentioned. “They’re ready to see if this second brings that peace.”

However the emir targeted on Trump’s favorite matter, investments within the US, with the president hailing the “excellent night”. He and different company had, in spite of everything, been serenaded by American nation singer Lee Greenwood — a Trump favorite — who sang “God Bless the USA”.

On Thursday, it was the UAE’s flip to roll out the proverbial pink carpet as Trump landed in Abu Dhabi. There he was feted by President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed al-Nahyan within the data that the UAE had already dedicated in March to take a position $1.4tn within the US over the following decade. 

“We’re going to be your good friend and we’re going to be your associate,” Trump advised the Emirati chief. “We’re going to deal with you, as you ought to be: magnificently.”

Hours later, the White Home introduced offers with the UAE value $200bn, together with for Boeing jets, vitality tasks and expertise.

Emile Hokayem, on the Worldwide Institute for Strategic Research, mentioned the Gulf states and Trump are related in some ways: “they’re good at superlatives, overstating and inflating and promising massive”. 

“They obtain outcomes nonetheless they usually shock. Loads of it’s for present, however the level is each side acquired what they needed: the visibility, trade of goodwill, mutual validation,” Hokayem mentioned. “There’s hyperbole in all places, however even when 50 per cent materialises, it’s nonetheless an enormous win for them.”