Posted on Friday, May 16, 2025
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by Alan Jamison
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4 Comments
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When President Donald Trump returns to Washington this evening, he has every reason to feel like a conquering hero. The 47th president’s first foreign trip, with stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), established a new paradigm in U.S.-Middle East relations and continued Trump’s astonishing record of success at securing economic investment in America.
The most significant agreement Trump negotiated on the trip will see Qatar invest $1.2 trillion into the United States. This deal includes the small nation purchasing $42 billion in weapons from the U.S., $96 billion in Boeing jets, and fulfilling several more billion-dollar agreements on workforce development, defense technology, and remotely piloted aircraft.
Trump also negotiated an agreement with Saudi Arabia that will see the Middle East’s second-largest economy invest $600 billion in the United States. This includes $142 billion for military equipment and services, $80 billion in technologies from tech giants such as Google and Uber, and $20 billion for AI data centers and energy infrastructure.
During the final leg of his journey in the UAE, Trump negotiated $200 billion in investments. This includes $14.5 billion for 28 American-made Boeing 787 and 777X aircrafts and $4 billion in an aluminum smelter project in Oklahoma. The UAE presented the president with the nation’s highest civilian honor known as the “Order of Zayed” award during the visit.
But Trump’s Middle East tour was significant beyond just its economic implications. After four years which saw declining U.S. global power and influence under Joe Biden, Trump set a clear, undeniable message: America is back.
Trump’s speech on Tuesday in Riyadh was a particularly important moment not just for his presidency, but for the future of U.S. foreign policy in the region. In remarks that drew a standing ovation from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Trump excoriated the globalist and neocon establishment, pledging that the United States was getting out of the business of nation-building and foreign interventionism.
Trump noted that the remarkable modernization of Middle Eastern nations like Saudi Arabia in recent years “has not come from Western interventionists… giving you lectures on how to live or how to govern your own affairs. The gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called ‘nation-builders,’ ‘neo-cons,’ or ‘liberal non-profits,’ like those who spent trillions failing to develop Kabul and Baghdad, so many other cities.”
“Instead, the birth of a modern Middle East has been brought about by the people of the region themselves… developing your own sovereign countries, pursuing your own unique visions, and charting your own destinies.”
While in Saudi Arabia, Trump also met with Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa just a day after lifting all sanctions on Syria. Trump is the first president to meet with Syrian leadership since Bill Clinton in 2000.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X that Trump encouraged Syria’s president to “sign onto the Abraham Accords with Israel,” “tell all foreign terrorists to leave Syria,” “deport Palestinian terrorists,” “help the United States to prevent the resurgence of ISIS,” and “assume responsibility for ISIS detention centers in Northeast Syria.”
“We are currently exploring normalizing relations with Syria’s new government, as you know, beginning with my meeting with President Ahmed Al-Shara and Secretary Rubio’s meeting with the Syrian Foreign Minister in Turkey after discussing the situation with Crown Prince Mohammed,” Trump said at a summit with other leaders of the region.
Before the end of his trip, Trump also announced that the U.S. has proposed a nuclear deal with Iran that would keep the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism from acquiring a nuclear weapon. If Iran agrees to the proposal, the deal will potentially mark a historic shift in the relationship between the two countries. Trump has been discussing a new nuclear deal with Iran since returning to office.
Trump’s trip was so successful that even former Biden staffers begrudgingly admitted that they were “awed” by the president’s speed and energy. “Gosh, I wish I could work for an administration that could move that quickly,” one remarked.
Alan Jamison is the pen name of a political writer with extensive experience writing for several notable politicians and news outlets.
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