May 12 (UPI) — President Donald Trump departed Monday for a four-day tour of the Middle East as he works to secure new investments for the United States and new progress on diplomatic issues, including a Gaza cease-fire.
Trump’s first state visit of his second term will begin Tuesday in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, where he will meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de facto leader. Saudi Arabia was also Trump’s first state visit of his first term, as the White House touted the trip as a “historic return to the Middle East.”
“Now, eight years later, President Trump will return to [re-emphasize] his continued vision for a proud, prosperous and successful Middle East, where the United States and Middle Eastern nations are in cooperative relationships, and where extremism is defeated in place of commerce and cultural exchanges,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
On Wednesday, Trump will attend a summit of Gulf leaders in Riyadh, which will include business executives from IBM, BlackRock, Palantir, Citigroup, Qualcomm, Alphabet and Franklin Templeton. The president will travel to Qatar later that day, where he is expected to visit with service members at the U.S. air base, and will wrap up his tour Thursday in the United Arab Emirates.
During his trip, Trump is expected to sign a number of economic agreements as part of his “America First” agenda, according to Ali Shihabi, a Saudi commentator with close ties to the Saudi government.
“These deals will further integrate the Saudi and U.S. economies together, joint ventures in the kingdom, in the United States, procurements of American weapons and goods,” said Shihabi.
Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have committed hundreds of billions of dollars of joint investments in the United States in the coming years. Mohammed has pledged $600 billion over the next four years and the United Arab Emirates has committed $1.4 trillion over the next decade.
Trump’s trip comes two weeks after his first foreign visit to Rome last month to attend Pope Francis’s funeral, following his death. It also comes one day after Hamas announced the release of hostage Edan Alexander, 21, a dual citizen of the United States and Israel. He is believed to be the last living U.S. citizen held hostage in Gaza.
While the trip includes meetings to make progress on a number of diplomatic issues, including a Gaza cease-fire, Trump does not plan to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
On Sunday, Trump’s presidential envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, led a fourth round of high-stakes talks with Iran.
“Gulf States are cautiously supportive of the administration’s Iran nuclear talks, in part because they fear they’d be the first victims of a war with Iran,” said Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Trump has warned Iran that there will be consequences if a deal is not reached.
