Donald Trump kicked off a high-profile diplomatic tour of the Gulf with a $142 billion arms agreement with Saudi Arabia, which the White House hailed as the “largest defence sales agreement in history”. The visit – the first stop on a four-day tour – underscored Trump’s transactional approach to foreign policy, focusing heavily on securing lucrative deals.
During a business forum in Riyadh on Tuesday, Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unveiled a suite of investment pledges and commercial contracts. The crown prince committed to investing $600 bn in the US economy, including $20 bn in artificial intelligence data centres, $14.2 bn in energy sector equipment such as gas turbines, and nearly $5 bn in Boeing aircraft.
However, the specifics of the pledges remained vague. The total value of the announced deals fell short of the $600 bn figure touted by Saudi officials, and some programmes appeared to have been initiated under the Biden administration.
The arms deal itself includes agreements with more than a dozen US defence companies to provide weapons systems, aerospace technology, air and missile defence, and maritime security equipment.
Trump was greeted with military fanfare, including an escort by Royal Saudi Air Force F-15s as the US president's Air Force One landed in Riyadh. He later met with Saudi royals and global business leaders—including Elon Musk, Sam Altman, and the chief executives of IBM, BlackRock, Citigroup, Palantir and Nvidia—at the Royal Court in Al Yamamah Palace.
At the meeting, Trump quipped that the $600 bn investment pledge should be “$1 trillion,” drawing laughter from the assembled dignitaries.
The trip is part of a broader reordering of US foreign policy under Trump’s “America First” doctrine, which prioritises domestic economic and security interests over traditional alliances. Critics argue Trump's foreign dealings benefit a tight circle of business associates and family members with vested interests in the Gulf.
One of the most controversial aspects of the visit has been a reported offer from Qatar’s royal family to gift Trump a luxury Boeing 747-8 jet. The aircraft, described as an “aerial palace”, is said to be convertible into a presidential aircraft and then donated to Trump’s future presidential library.
Democrats have condemned the proposed gift as an unprecedented ethical breach, with one lawmaker calling it “the most valuable gift ever conferred on a president by a foreign government.”
Trump is scheduled to visit the United Arab Emirates on Thursday before travelling to Qatar, with additional investment and infrastructure agreements expected during the remainder of the trip.
