Trump Arrives in Saudi Arabia, in the Persian Gulf, follow the Money

U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Saudi Arabia this morning, officially kicking off his first international trip of his second term. The four-day tour, focused on the Persian Gulf, has the primary objective of promoting new economic agreements and attracting investments to the region. After Saudi Arabia, the President will also visit Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, but will not stop in Israel — a decision that has been interpreted in Tel Aviv as a signal of cooling relations with Washington.

For the first time, no news agencies accompanied the presidential delegation aboard Air Force One. Instead, high-profile figures were present on the plane, including Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and entrepreneur Elon Musk, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. The plane landed at the Royal Terminal of Riyadh airport, a section reserved for high-level guests, where Trump was personally welcomed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. A lavender carpet rolled out on the runway underscored the special consideration given to the American President.

This reception stands in sharp contrast to that given to Joe Biden in 2022, when — after calling Saudi Arabia a “pariah state” — he was greeted by a low-profile delegation. Today, however, bin Salman has scheduled a full day of meetings with Trump, ending with an official dinner. The Saudis seem intent on reviving the warm tone of 2017, when, during Trump’s first Presidential visit, his face was projected onto the facade of Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton hotel.

During the Qatar leg of the trip, the Trump administration is expected to accept a gift from the Al Thani royal family: an ultra-luxury Boeing 747-8. The President has requested that the aircraft be temporarily adapted for use as Air Force One, while awaiting delivery of the new official planes from Boeing. This would be the most expensive gift ever received by the U.S. government.

“Business, business, business.” That’s how one Arab official summed up the purpose of the U.S. President’s mission to the Gulf, with the ambitious goal — as reported by Axios from former U.S. officials and two Arab sources — of returning home with deals and investment promises worth around one trillion dollars. All major international media agree that Trump’s trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE — his first official visit to the region since returning to the White House, and his second abroad if counting the brief trip to Rome for Pope Francis’s funeral — has a primarily economic dimension.

“I’ll go if you pay one trillion dollars to American companies over four years — and they agreed,” Trump said.
In Saudi Arabia, a business forum will be held with local and U.S. companies, focusing on technology, artificial intelligence, and energy. According to the Financial Times, many of America’s most powerful CEOs may attend — from Elon Musk to Sam Altman, from Mark Zuckerberg to Larry Fink. Agreements expected to be signed include at least $100 billion in military supplies such as missiles, radar systems, and transport aircraft (notably, Trump signed an executive order last month easing restrictions on certain weapons sales), as well as major deals in the energy and mining sectors.

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), which controls assets worth $925 billion, already holds numerous investments in the United States, including in Uber, the video game company Electronic Arts, and the electric vehicle maker Lucid.

In Qatar, according to a source familiar with the matter, investment announcements totaling between $200 and $300 billion are expected, including a major commercial aircraft deal with Boeing and a $2 billion agreement for the purchase of MQ-9 Reaper drones.

The UAE, meanwhile, had already announced in March that it would invest $1.4 billion in the United States over the next decade in sectors such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, energy, and manufacturing.

Analysts, however, as the Financial Times notes, are questioning how the three Gulf monarchies can mobilize such vast capital in such a short time, considering the decline in oil prices and Saudi Arabia’s strategy of focusing on domestic project financing.

“Going to the Middle East right now is more of an economic issue than a strategic one,” said Dennis Ross, a former U.S. diplomat now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, quoted by the New York Times. “Clearly, he enjoys these kinds of trips where big deals are announced, because that’s his focus, his priority.” But some of the more geopolitical aspects of the visit will be impossible for Trump to ignore.