US President Donald Trump is beginning a tour of the Middle East, the official part of which will take place from May 13 to 16. He will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Apart from a short trip to Rome for Pope Francis' funeral in late April, this is the president's first full-fledged overseas tour since he took office on January 20. During his first presidential term (2017-2021), Saudi Arabia also became the first country that Trump officially visited.
Trump is expected to attend a summit of the United States and the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh. According to American media, the president expects to present his vision for the role and goals of the United States in the Middle East. According to sources on the portal Axios, the summit is scheduled for May 14.
One of the main goals of the tour will be to conclude economic deals and attract investment in the American economy. The settlement of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is also expected to be discussed. Qatar is a key mediator in negotiations between Israel and the radical Palestinian movement Hamas. Trump also plans to discuss global oil prices - reducing them is one of the key tasks of the administration in order to accelerate the pace of US economic growth.
According to the television company CNN, the American delegation includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Pentagon chief Pete Hegsett and Treasury Secretary Scott Besant. They will fly separately from the president to participate in bilateral meetings with their counterparts in the region. The delegation may include Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and Special Presidential Envoy Stephen Witkoff.
Earlier, administration officials in Washington hinted that a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could take place in Saudi Arabia. Last week, the Russian leader's press secretary Dmitry Peskov, as well as the White House, said that there were no such plans. Trump had previously suggested that the meeting could take place “soon after” his trip to the Middle East.
Since taking office in January this year, Trump has expressed his willingness to make his first overseas visit to Saudi Arabia if major investment deals are reached. He later said that Riyadh intends to invest about $600 billion in the US economy. The White House boss suggested that this amount would be “rounded up” to $1 trillion.
In March, the UAE said it would invest about $1.4 trillion in the United States over the next 10 years. The investments will affect areas such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, energy and aluminum production.
A number of agreements between private companies are expected to be signed during the tour. An investment forum will be held in Saudi Arabia on May 13. According to The New York Post, it will include Elon Musk, who heads the US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), investor David Sachs, appointed by Trump to be responsible for artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency policy, OpenAI head Sam Altman, Meta co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg and Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser.
As reported by Bloomberg, on the eve of the tour, the Trump administration was considering easing restrictions on the export of artificial intelligence chips to the Middle East, introduced during the presidency of Joe Biden. A number of countries in the region, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, have made no secret of their dissatisfaction with these restrictions.
Another element of the agenda could be consultations on a possible extension of the Abraham Accords. As part of these agreements, Israel normalized relations with Bahrain and the UAE in 2020, with US mediation, and Morocco and Sudan later announced the same. Previously, the Jewish state had diplomatic relations only with Egypt and Jordan among the Arab countries.
The Trump administration considers the extension of these agreements to be one of its policy priorities in the region, and individual officials have indicated specific deadlines. Last week, Witkoff, at an event at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, announced plans to extend the Abraham Accords until 2026.
The main obstacle to Saudi Arabia's accession to the agreements is the situation around Palestine. Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud has repeatedly stated his readiness to normalize relations with Israel only after the end of hostilities in Gaza and the emergence of a clear program for Palestinian statehood. According to CNN, the American leader plans to include his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who has built a trusting relationship with the crown prince, in the negotiations with Saudi Arabia.
Another topic of discussion could be the negotiations between the United States and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program. The UAE and Saudi Arabia have expressed support for these consultations. Riyadh has previously expressed interest in developing nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, but Washington has tied the expansion of such cooperation to the normalization of Saudi Arabia's relations with Israel. According to Reuters sources, this condition has already been dropped. Before Trump, the region was visited by US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who announced the signing of a memorandum of cooperation in the field of nuclear energy with Saudi Arabia.
According to the Associated Press another item on the agenda may be Trump's decision to rename the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Gulf. According to sources in the agency, the president intends to raise this issue in Saudi Arabia. The Iranian Foreign Ministry sharply condemned the initiative of the American leader.
According to American media, Trump will receive a lavish reception in the Middle East. Some publications note that the host countries will organize a kind of competition in the luxury of ceremonies and signs of attention. According to ABC News, the Qatari royal family will give the White House owner a Boeing 747-8 worth about $400 million.