Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
CNN
–
US President Donald Trump has just finished a luxurious tour of Gulf Arab countries where all three energy-rich countries visited had a long list of wishes from American leaders.
Those countries enjoyed some great rewards from travel, but they did not reach the others.
Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates all “wanted to show off what they were open for business, but they could, and they wanted the US to be on their side,” Dina Esfandiary, the Middle East leader of Bloomberg’s economy, told CNN. “They wanted to show that they were back in terms of returning to American bounty,” she said.
Gulf countries are looking to revamp their relationship with the US, moving from an understanding of oil security for trading to a stronger partnership rooted in bilateral investment and a shared vision.
This is a “new dawn” with the US and its relationship with the Gulf, Jasmine El Gamal, a Middle Eastern analyst and former advisor, and a former Pentagon advisor, told CNN’s Becky Anderson.
Here’s what we know about the Gulf countries that have escaped and failed to get from Trump’s visit:
Saudi Arabia wanted a formal security agreement with the US. It didn’t get that, but experts say it got quite close.
“Saudi Arabia may not have won a formal security contract, but there have been a lot of talk about it. So this may have been a continuation of the conversation, not the pinnacle of the process,” Esfandily said.
Last year, the two countries were close to finalizing groundbreaking defense and trade agreements, but transactions over Saudi Arabia’s claim that Israel would commit to the path to a Palestinian state have stagnated.
Riyadh may receive a handful of arms deals during Trump’s trip, paving the way for a wider deal, experts said.
At the formal signing ceremony in the golden ballroom of the Saudi Capital Royal Court on Tuesday, Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman signed a memorandum of understanding, intentional letters and other enforcement agreements spanning various government agencies.
Saudi Arabia has also committed $600 billion in US investment, including a vast $142 billion defence partnership that the White House touted as “the biggest defence sales agreement in history.”
The visit did not end up providing Riyadh US cooperation in the private nuclear program, which the Kingdom had been paying attention to.
The program has argued for the enrichment of Saudi uranium within the country, raising concerns between the US and Israel over the proliferation of nuclear weapons. Uranium, when enriched to high levels, can be used to produce nuclear weapons.
For Saudi Arabia, detente between the US and Syria was also a major diplomatic victory. During his visit, Trump met and drank tea with Syrian President Ahmad Alshara, a former jihadist who had until recently had US bounty of $10 million in his head. The US president has also announced plans to lift the sanctions placed on former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, and will bring life to life perhaps the country’s crippling finances.
Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia, have been keen to invest in Syria and support its economy, but are wary of violating US sanctions. Trump’s move is likely to remove such barriers, gaining potential multi-billion dollar ways in investments and returns.
If a settlement is made between the US and Syria under Saudi Arabia’s auspices, Riyadh may offer a great opportunity in Damascus.
Saudi Arabia eventually got a “real expression of American commitment” in the kingdom, Esfandiary said.
Qatar received its first official state visit from the US president this week. The last time a sitting US leader visited the country was in 2003, when former President George W. Bush visited the headquarters of Central Command, where he spoke to US servicemen.
Qatar’s chief Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said talks with Trump on the trip “give new driving forces on existing strategic cooperation between the two countries in various sectors.”
According to a White House fact sheet, both countries signed many deals during Trump’s visit.
Trump also accepted the Boeing 747-8 jet from Catalis, initially used as the Air Force. The US President has accepted the Mammoth Jet despite the ethical and legal controversies it raised. Critics accused Qatar of trying to gain influence over the Trump administration through gifts.
In an interview with CNN’s Becky Anderson, Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdul Rahman bin Jashim Althani dismissed the criticism.
“Why do you buy influence in the US?” he said. “If we’ve seen it in the relationship between the US and Qatar over the past decade, Qatar has always been there for the US when needed, whether it’s a refuge in Afghanistan, or whether it’s freeing hostages from different countries around the world or not, or a war on terrorism.”
Doha’s biggest victory was the security guarantees it received from Trump, with the US vowing to “protect” its longtime security partners in the face of threats.
“We’re going to protect this country,” Trump said during a business roundtable, pointing out how close Qatar is to Iran.
“Especially in this country, you are right next door, so you are left with stones. Even you are a foot away. You can walk to Iran quickly,” he said.
Qatar is the Gulf Arab state with the most formal security ties with Washington. It holds the largest US military equipment in the Middle East. This is described by the State Department as “essential” for US military operations in the region.
The UAE main target from Trump’s trip was a deeper investment in AI and technology. Although they achieved a victory in that respect, the visit wasn’t what Abu Dhabi really wanted.
When Trump visited the United Arab Emirates, the two countries announced a partnership to build a large data center complex in Abu Dhabi, allowing them to increase their AI capabilities with a capacity of 5 gigawatts.
Lennart Heim, a quasi-information scientist at Rand Corporation’s think tank, said the new complex would require more than 2 million tips.
“Takes Abu Dhabi’s new 5GW AI campus into perspective. It supports up to 2.5 million Nvidia B200S, which is greater than all other major AI infrastructure announcements we’ve seen so far,” he wrote in X.
Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa Programmes in London, said, “The investment in AI, the focus of President Trump’s travel, is forcing the UAE to be a major player in the field.
The UAE hopes to become a global leader in AI by 2031, but American chips are needed to achieve this goal. Under the Biden administration, the US had been tightening the curbs on AI exports and maintaining advanced technology from the hands of foreign enemies such as China, which the UAE hoped to ease.
However, the chip may be available to the UAE soon.
A source familiar with the issue said on Friday that CNN is “introducing a preliminary agreement between the US and Abu Dhabi that could facilitate importing cutting-edge AI chips.”
CNN reached out to the White House for comment.
Trump said Friday that both countries agreed to create a “way” for the Gulf nation to buy some of the most advanced AI semiconductors from us.
“It (the Trump visit) was a victory, just like the other two countries,” Esfandily said. “They signed a lot of deals and got a lot of headlines,” she added.
“And that’s the most important thing. It appears that the UAE has a level of confidence in this relationship and its current state with the US.”
