Gulf tour: Trump's trip to the Middle East took place

Trump’s Gulf tour sealed $2T in deals, boosted Boeing, and reshaped U.S.-Middle East ties—mixing economic ambition with political maneuvering and controversy across Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE.

In mid-May, Donald J. Trump made his first tour of the Middle East since the start of his presidential term. In a few days, he visited three countries – Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE – where he implemented several political and economic moves.

Trump tried to use the trip to the Arabian Peninsula as a “saving point” not only to turn former partners into “donors” of the American economy, but also to formulate a new approach for Washington to relations with Middle Eastern powers.

Economic triumph

Perhaps the main result of Trump's foreign visit was the signing of a series of "deals of the century" with the Gulf monarchies. From the tour, the American leader brought back an "investment basket" totaling more than $2 trillion, where the largest share (more than $1.2 trillion) was offered by Qatar. And although most of the funds announced by the Arabian government will not be invested in the American economy immediately - but will be spread out over at least a decade - the agreements reached marked a new stage in relations between the United States and the Gulf monarchies, and (according to Trump) "prepared the ground" for bringing the American economy out of the protracted recession.

It is noted that Trump made a lot of efforts to attract Arab funds to support Boeing, the main American aircraft manufacturer, and ultimately achieved his goal. The total number of aircraft ordered from the aircraft manufacturer following the tour approached 400 units (210 of which will be transferred to Qatar, 160 to Saudi Arabia, and 28 to the Emirates). This became the largest (and also the most expensive) one-time order in Boeing history. Its implementation will provide more than 154 thousand jobs in the United States annually, and over the entire period of work, more than 1 million labor positions will be created.

The defense sector also benefited. Even before Trump left for the Middle East, the US State Department approved the sale of a large package of weapons and equipment to the UAE worth a total of $1.4 billion (most of which were CH-47F Chinook helicopters).

A day later, Trump signed the largest arms deal in the history of bilateral relations with Saudi Arabia, worth a total of $142 billion. The announced package included modern air defense systems, missile defense systems, radar systems, small arms and ammunition; part of the financial package is aimed at training and retraining the command staff of the Saudi army.

In the case of Qatar, the parties limited themselves to agreements on potential investments in the defense sector in the amount of $38 billion, but on the sidelines of high-level meetings, American companies managed to lobby for a deal worth another $3 billion, including the purchase of MQ-9B UAVs and counter-drone equipment by Qatar. Doha was also announced to soon purchase the THAAD missile defense system and KC-46A Pegasus tanker aircraft, in addition to the $1.9 billion “defense package” approved in March 2025.

In addition, Qatar has pledged to spend $10 billion to expand and modernize the Al Udeid Air Base, which is considered the US “air outpost” not only in the Gulf region but also in the Middle East as a whole.

Political games

The key messages Trump delivered during the tour boil down to the fact that Washington intends to completely reshape regional relations, building a “New Middle East,” while betting on rapprochement with forces that are “able to negotiate and ready to barter” – in other words, moving away from Washington’s characteristic unconditional support for its closest allies.

It is no coincidence that during the investment forum in Saudi Arabia, Trump made several curtsies in favor of the “young Arabians” – first and foremost, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – who are overcoming “ancient conflicts and tiresome disagreements of the past.” It is by relying on them that the White House intends to achieve success in resolving protracted crises, be it the Iranian “nuclear deal” or the conflict in Gaza.

A little later, Trump continued to develop this idea in practice, holding a meeting with the leader of the Syrian transitional government, Ahmed al-Sharaa, with the participation of Saudi Arabia. And the day before, he made a loud statement, promising Syria the lifting of a significant part of the sanctions in order to give the republic a “chance for greatness.” This played into the hands of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which had previously proactively paid off Damascus’s debts to the World Bank. True, in exchange for easing the pressure, the White House put forward an extensive package of demands to the Syrian authorities, including normalization of relations with Israel, a final severance of ties with radical groups and movements (including the Palestinian Hamas). And although most of these were expressed as recommendations or wishes, Damascus will hardly be able to ignore Washington’s request.

It is noteworthy that this time, Trump decided to temporarily distance himself from Israel by not including it in his tour itinerary. The Israeli agenda was presented in the presidential schedule rather meagerly, and mainly “in connection” with the crisis in Gaza or the hypothetical expansion of the “Abraham Accords”. This indicates a continuing shift in the focus of the American leader’s attention to deepening strategic ties with the Gulf monarchies and Trump’s attempts to turn them into a “counterweight” to official Tel Aviv. Moreover, the latter is increasingly inclined to “go against” Washington’s strategy in the Middle East, avoiding the compromise agreements proposed by Washington.

House of cards

Despite the fact that Trump's visit to the region took place in an emphatically friendly atmosphere, it was not possible to completely avoid excesses.

The first major scandal was connected with the plane that the Qatari emir intended to give to Trump as a welcome gift. The cost of the plane was estimated at $400 million, which caused a stir among the legislators. Not only the representatives of the Democratic wing, but also some Republicans came out with criticism.

The reason is the legal risks associated with handing over the plane. Among other things, senators pointed to possible violations of anti-corruption laws, especially given the Trump family's ties to Qatar through the firms and foundations of his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

In addition, the "flying palace" (as the Qataris themselves called the plane), as it later turned out, was not prepared for transfer to the first person. American media, citing military and intelligence officials, noted that "it would take years and billions of dollars" to equip the plane, which caused indignation among the Qatari elites.

Trump's meeting with al-Sharaa also created unnecessary noise due to the new Syrian president's controversial past. The leader, who fought in the ranks of banned groups, was included in the US list of wanted persons back in 2013; a reward of $10 million was promised for information about him. And although the reward offer was formally canceled in December 2024, after al-Sharaa 's first meeting with the American delegation, due to bureaucratic red tape, the new Syrian leader was still not completely removed from the wanted persons database by the time of the meeting.

However, it was the economic part of the tour that faced the most criticism. First of all, this is because a significant part of the "Arabian investment package" announced by Trump is based on memoranda of understanding. The latter, unlike contracts, are less formal and do not always involve payments. According to experts, Washington's real gain is about $700 billion.

In addition, the American leader was a bit disingenuous when calculating the final investment, including earlier deals in the list. Among them, for example, is the 20-year contract between the American NextDecade and the Saudi conglomerate Aramco for the supply of 1.2 million tons of LNG from the Rio Grande plant, signed in early April.

The desire of some American legislators to torpedo the “defense deals” concluded by Trump has also been noted, out of fears that they have a corrupt component and are aimed at his personal enrichment. However, only the UAE and Qatar have come under attack; the “historic deal” with Riyadh does not raise any big questions for the American establishment yet.

At the same time, the deliberate overstatement of the final cost of investments (as well as the conclusion of deals on the edge of what is acceptable) is part of Trump's tactics to create a reputation as the "best friend of the Arabs." In this context, the final figures could be "inflated" in an effort to demonstrate the scale and historical significance of cooperation with the Gulf, as well as to create a solid semantic basis for further political manipulation and the resolution of long-standing conflicts at the hands of the Arabs themselves.

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About the Author: Dr. Leonid Tsukanov holds a Doctorate in Political Science and is an esteemed expert with the Russian International Affairs Council. As an international journalist and Orientalist, Dr. Tsukanov specializes in analyzing the intricate dynamics of global security and Middle Eastern affairs. In 2022, he was awarded the prestigious G.M. Evstafiev Award for young specialists in international security and nuclear non-proliferation (PIR Center). In 2023, he won the competition for international journalists in the category of "Best Analytical Article on International Issues" (RIAC/Union of Journalists of Russia). He has authored several books and published over 100 scholarly and analytical articles, focusing on contemporary security challenges facing nations in the MENA region.