Middle East Tour! US Presdent Donald Trump goes for  $1.4 trillion investment pact with UAE

Middle East Tour! US Presdent Donald Trump goes for  $1.4 trillion investment pact with UAE

 

Four days, three countries: US president Donald Trump arrived in the United Arab Emirates on Thursday after having started his tour of several Gulf states on Tuesday.

The American president touched down in Abu Dhabi, where he was greeted by President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Trump was then given a tour of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, which he called "beautiful".

The trip is part of a four-day visit of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Trump's first major overseas tour of his second term as president.

 

These countries, among the world's wealthiest nations due to their oil-rich territories, have shown keen interest in closer ties with the US since Trump returned into office.

A deal emblematic of this new relationship was announced with Saudia Arabia on Tuesday: while the US pledged to sell  Saudi Arabia an arms package valued at nearly $142 billion dollars, the Middle Eastern country in turn announced a $600 billion dollar commitment to invest in the United States.

Whether similarly significant deals with the United Arab Emirates are to be announced soon remains to be seen, yet the possibility exists.

Meanwhile, Qatar announced that it wanted to gift Trump a $400 million luxury plane to replace his Air Force One. Trump said that he was planning on accepting the gift, despite sparking outrage among Democrats and causing concerns for the ethical, security and legal implications of the move.

 
 
The United Arab Emirates has committed to a 10-year, $1.4 trillion investment framework in the United States after top UAE officials met President Donald Trump this week, the White House said on Friday.
The framework will "substantially increase the UAE's existing investments in the U.S. economy" in AI infrastructure, semiconductors, energy, and manufacturing, the White House said in a statement.

The White House did not outline how UAE investments would reach $1.4 trillion, with some of the deals unveiled as part of the framework having already been announced.

 
The only fully new deal appeared to be an investment by Emirates Global Aluminium in what would be the first new aluminum smelter in the United States in 35 years, the White House said, adding the plant "would nearly double U.S. domestic aluminum production".
"Developing a primary aluminium smelter in the U.S. has been part of EGA's ambitions for several years," a spokesperson for the firm said in a statement.
The UAE, an oil producer and longtime security partner of the U.S., is looking to deepen investment ties with Washington and is emerging as a global leader in AI, one of the sectors it is betting on to diversify its economy away from energy.
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In September, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan met former U.S. President Joe Biden, in the first visit of a UAE president to the White House, as the two leaders discussed deepening cooperation in areas such as AI, investments and space exploration.
Gulf sovereign wealth funds, including Abu Dhabi's $330-billion Mubadala, are already big U.S. investors, and Trump and his family have business ties to the region.

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