May 13 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump touched down in Saudi Arabia aboard Air Force One on Tuesday on the first stop of four day visit to the region, the first major overseas trip of his second term, with a focus on securing investment in the U.S. economy worth as much as $1 trillion.
Trump was greeted by the kingdom’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and went straight into an arrival ceremony in the airport terminal in Riyadh, joined by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, the White House said in a post on X.
He will then head to a forum showcasing U.S.-Saudi commercial ties and opportunities attended by American business leaders including Elon Musk, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy and Alphabet CIO Ruth Porat, where a number of deals are expected to be announced.
Trump is likely to announce a $100 billion agreement for Saudi Arabia to purchase U.S. weapons and other military equipment, among other deals.
Day one is set to end with a state dinner at the At-Turaif World Heritage Site in Diriyah, just outside of Riyadh.
On Wednesday, Trump is scheduled to attend a summit of Gulf leaders before heading to Qatar and finally to the United Arab Emirates on Friday.
All three countries have deep pockets and state-run sovereign wealth funds with assets totaling more than $2.5 trillion that Trump could tap for his alternative plans for U.S. economic growth going forward.
Crucially, no visit to Israel is included in his itinerary, although Trump has said he might detour to Turkey for Russia-Ukraine peace talks due to get underway there on Thursday if he felt his presence would be helpful.
Trump said last week that an “earth shattering” announcement not related to trade trade was imminent.
One possibility is a proposal to rename the Persian Gulf “the Arabian Gulf” as an offering to the leaders of Arab capitals he is meeting on his visit.
However, Sanam Vakil, director of Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Program, told the BBC that Trump may be floating the idea to test the water in advance, given the consternation such a move would cause in Iran, which the gulf is named after.
Another possibility is renewed momentum toward a regional security alliance.
However, Vakil said normalization of ties between the Arab countries and Israel was firmly off the table and would remain so as long as the war in Gaza continued.
Meanwhile, an escalating row over plans for Trump to receive a gift of a $400 million luxury Boeing 747 from the Qatar royal family for use as Air Force One — which he has stressed would be owned by the United States and not him personally — threatened to overshadow the trip.
The proposal was catching bipartisan flak, including from some of Trump’s highest-profile MAGA backers, such as social media star Laura Loomer, who said it would be “a stain” on his administration if true.
“As someone who would take a bullet for Trump. I’m so disappointed,” she said.
The White House said Monday it would be a government-to-government transaction, fully compliant with all U.S. laws, and dismissed questions over what Qatar might want from the United States in return.
Trump has said the arrangement would be temporary while waiting for the delivery of two replacement aircraft on order from Boeing, however, it remains unclear if reports the aircraft would be passed onto his presidential library at the end of his term in January 2029 were accurate.
However, security experts and government officials warned it posed major security risks.
Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said using the aircraft would “pose immense counterintelligence risks by granting a foreign nation potential access to sensitive systems and communications.”
“This reckless disregard for national security and diplomatic propriety signals a dangerous willingness to barter American interests for personal gain. It is an affront to the office of the presidency and a betrayal of the trust placed in any U.S. leader to safeguard the nation’s sovereignty,” said Reed.
