President Donald Trump is headed to the Persian Gulf, and has said he aims to return to the U.S. with $1 trillion worth of deals and investments, according to U.S. officials.
Trump will be visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates during his trip.
One foreign official familiar with the visit told Axios that Trump’s “regional agenda is business, business, and business.”
During Trump’s first term, he made Saudi Arabia the destination for his first major international trip, and that would have remained the case for his second term had he not had to travel to Rome for Pope Francis’s funeral.
Trump’s interest in Saudi Arabia and broader region is no doubt driven in part by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman’s pledge to invest $600 billion in the U.S. over the course of Trump’s presidency. The prince made the announcement that he’d be pouring money into the U.S. shortly after Trump took office.
In March, Trump told reporters that Saudi Arabia has agreed to pay $1 trillion to American companies during his time in office.
“Last time they put up $450 billion,” he said at the time. “But this time they have gotten richer. We have all gotten older. So I said ‘I will go if you pay $1 trillion to American companies over four years,’ and they agreed to do that.”
At least $100 billion of the sales Trump will make during his Saudi Arabia trip will be related to military equipment and technologies, energy, and minerals.
Officials in Qatar are also expected to announce $200 to $300 billion deals and investments. Those include an aircraft deal with Boeing and a $2 billion deal to buy MQ-9 Reaper drones, further cementing the U.S.’s spot as the world’s number one global arms dealer.
The Qataris are reportedly also potentially going to gift Trump a 747 jumbo jet to temporarily serve as Air Force One. The issue is still under review between Qatar’s government and the Pentagon.
The UAE — home of the mega-wealthy desert city of Dubai — has also pledged to invest $1.4 trillion in the U.S. over the course of the next 10 years.
Just two weeks before his trip, the Trump Organization announced it reached deals for luxury real estate in Qatar, and that it was also pursuing projects in Jeddah, Dubai, and Oman.
Trump won’t be the only one in the Gulf this week; OpenAI’s Sam Altman will also be traveling to the region at the same time, according to a U.S. official who spoke to Axios.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and other tech leaders are also going to be present on Tuesday during a Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum in Riyadh.
