President Donald Trump is set to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates next month in his second foreign trip of this term, the White House announced Tuesday. The trip is scheduled to take place from May 13 to May 16.
“The president looks to strengthen ties between the United States and these countries in which he will be visiting,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday during a press briefing. “He’ll be having many bilateral meetings and talks, and we look forward to the trip.”
Trump’s Middle East trip was supposed to be his first foreign visit of this term, but he will now attend Pope Francis’ funeral in Rome later this week.
The trips come as Trump seeks new deals with foreign countries amid his tariff pause and signals his growing relationship with the Gulf countries.
In March, Trump announced that Saudi Arabia committed to investing $1 trillion into the American economy.
“I made a deal with Saudi Arabia. … I said I’ll go if you pay $1 trillion to American companies, meaning the purchase over a four-year period of $1 trillion, and they’ve agreed to do that,” Trump said, Newsweek reported.
Also in March, the UAE committed to investing $1.4 trillion in American energy, manufacturing, and technology over the next decade.
“This new framework will substantially increase the UAE’s existing investments in the U.S. economy in AI infrastructure, semiconductors, energy, and American manufacturing,” the White House said in a statement announcing the framework.
Saudi Arabia was the first country Trump visited during his first term in 2017, where a viral image was captured of him touching an orb alongside Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi at the opening of the Global Centre for Combating Extremist Ideology.
@KingSalman and @POTUS inaugurate The Global Center for Combatting Extremist Ideology in Riyadh. #RiyadhSummit pic.twitter.com/do6cFL7wBW
— Saudi Embassy USA (@SaudiEmbassyUSA) May 21, 2017
During his first term, Trump had a strong working relationship with several Gulf states, which led to the Abraham Accords between the UAE, Israel, and Bahrain. The Trump administration has hoped to expand the accords even further to include Saudi Arabia, though the ongoing war in Israel has made any such negotiations more complex.
