Trump wraps up his Middle East tour with deals galore
The US president made scoring business deals a centrepiece of the first major foreign trip of his second term
US President Donald Trump on Friday capped his Gulf tour in Abu Dhabi after signing another raft of multibillion-dollar deals, while also securing a US$1.4 trillion investment pledge from the United Arab Emirates.
The eye-watering amounts of money in investments were accompanied also by historic overtures to Syria and renewed optimism over an Iran nuclear deal during the multi-day trip across the Gulf.
On his first foreign tour of his second term, Trump oversaw a US$200 billion order from Qatar Airways for Boeing jets and a US$600 billion investment from Saudi Arabia – including nearly US$142 billion in weapons, which the White House described as the largest-ever arms deal.
At an event to highlight business partnerships between the UAE and US companies, Trump gave himself a big pat on the back.
“I’m just thinking we have a president of the United States doing the selling,” Trump said to business leaders on Friday as they walked him through a presentation on investments that were benefiting the American economy. “You think [Joe] Biden would be doing it? I don’t think so. But I think its so important. I have to be a cheerleader for our country.”