How did Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE transpire?

United States President Donald Trump undertook a three-day tour of the Gulf for his first State visit since retaking office in January. The trip began in Saudi Arabia, followed by Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. It marked Trump's second foreign visit as President after he attended the funeral of Pope Francis in Rome in April.

As expected, President Trump's agenda and his objectives were securing major economic deals and making diplomatic progress on issues that impact the region. The focus on economic deals surfaced as the US recorded a drop in its economic output in the first quarter, its worst in three years.

In the lead-up to Trump's visit, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE pledged significant investments in the US, signaling an interest in deepening economic ties. However, Trump's trip also followed resistance in the region over his proposal for the US to redevelop Gaza and relocate its residents to other Arab countries. In a meeting of Arab leaders in Riyadh in February, officials from countries including Egypt, Qatar, the UAE and Kuwait rejected Trump's plan, emphasising the need for Palestinian self-determination and regional stability.

With Saudi Arabia the dimensions included normalisation, business deals and weapons.

Trump's Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff observed in this regard that the President wanted to expand the Abraham Accords, under which the UAE and Bahrain had recognised Israel during Trump's first term. It was obvious that now he wanted Saudi Arabia to be part of the group. Talks were reportedly underway on Saudi Arabia joining the Accords, but after Israel began its war on Gaza in October 2023, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) paused those discussions. Saudi officials indicated that they would not move forward unless there was real progress towards a two-state solution for Palestine.

It may be noted here that in a shift from past US policy, the Trump Administration has uncoupled discussions on a Saudi nuclear agreement and normalisation with Israel, which US President Joe Biden's administration had held as a condition for nuclear cooperation. Currently, there has been a slight shift with Riyadh wanting US help in the building of a civilian nuclear programme. This hint has raised concerns in Israel about what it wants within the paradigm associated with normalization.

After his visit it has been revealed that Saudi Arabia would invest US Dollar 600 billion in the United States. Apparently, this would include not only technology partnerships but also a weapons sales agreement worth US Dollar 142 billion - the largest ever weapons sale between the two countries. A fact sheet shared by the White House has also explained that the denotations of the agreement will also include collaboration in areas such as energy and mineral development. Relevant authorities have remarked that "the deals are historic and transformative for both countries and represent a new golden era of partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia".  Analysts have consequently remarked that "the pact represents a deepening of economic and military ties between the two countries, a trend that has continued for decades under both Republican and Democratic US Presidents.

At this juncture one needs to recall the global outcry over the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at a consulate in Istanbul which briefly threatened to upend the US-Saudi relationship. The US government had alleged that forces linked to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman were responsible for the killing.

This time the Saudi-US agreement was designed to help modernise the Saudi military with "state-of-the-art war fighting equipment and services from over a dozen US defence firms", according to the White House fact sheet. "The first key component of this was upgrading the defence capabilities of Saudi Arabia," Al Jazeera correspondent Hashem Ahelbarra reported from Riyadh. "This is a country that has been trying to invest vast amounts of money over the last few years" in its military, he added.

But the new deal is not limited to security cooperation. It also lays out a plan in which Saudi Arabia will invest US Dollar 20 billion in energy infrastructure and data centres for artificial intelligence in the US -- a significant infusion of cash into industries with close ties to the Trump administration.

President Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia also included another significant dimension. Over there, he met the Syrian interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, which also led to lifting of sanctions on Syria. Trump said the move is designed to "give them a chance at greatness".  This was a movement forward as until December, the US had been offering a US Dollar 10 million reward for al-Sharaa's arrest. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attended the US-Syria meeting, while reports in Turkey suggest that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also joined but remotely. Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa welcomed President Trump's "courageous" lifting of sanctions on his country. Trump's surprise announcement also reportedly caught State Department and Treasury Department personnel off-guard.

In Qatar, where the largest US military base in the Middle East is located, Trump's agenda included meetings with the Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to discuss military cooperation and regional security. Trump capped his visit to Qatar with a speech to US soldiers stationed in the Gulf state before flying to the United Arab Emirates in the last leg of his Middle East tour. Trump addressed troops at Qatar's al-Udeid Air Base, which is located about 30 km south-west of Doha. Al-Udeid Air Base is the biggest US military installation in the Middle East and has played a large role in US operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria.

Qatar Airways has hailed its agreement with Boeing to acquire up to 210 aircrafts- 787 Dreamliner aircraft and 777X aircraft at a cost of US Dollar 96 billion as "historic". Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Officer Badr Mohammed al-Meer said the deal was a "critical next step" for the airline as it invests in the "cleanest, youngest and most efficient fleet in global aviation". "After two consecutive years of record-breaking commercial performance and with this historic Boeing aircraft order - we're not simply chasing scale; we're building strength that will allow us to continue to deliver our unmatched products and customer experiences," he said in a statement posted on the airline's website.

In the UAE, Trump met with President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to discuss investment opportunities in sectors such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, energy and manufacturing. It may be recalled that in March, the UAE announced a US Dollar 1.4 trillion investment plan for those sectors in the US over the next decade. Trump had meaningful discussions in the UAE and this included lifting Biden-era export restrictions on advanced technology. This matrix received special attention as the UAE seeks US microchips and artificial intelligence technology to support its goal of becoming a global AI leader by 2031. This will include building the largest group of artificial intelligence data centres outside the US, boosting the UAE's ambitions of becoming a global AI hub.

It needs to be noted that AI has been a theme during Trump's visit to the Gulf where the monarchies hope the cutting-edge technology will assist to diversify their oil-reliant economies through their sovereign wealth funds.

Nevertheless, any strategic coverage of Trump's visit also needs to note that the Arab world very carefully waited to see if anything would emerge with moral clarity about peace and security in Palestine in general and Gaza in particular.

There have been queries among geo-strategic analysts as to whether the Arab leaders were able to explain clearly to President Trump that peace and economic development in the Middle East are within reach and depend on one unambiguous critical condition - the admission of Palestine to the United Nations as its 194th member state. For this to become a reality, the United States must lift its veto on Palestine's entry to the UN.  One can only hope that during discussions with the Gulf leadership, they were able to underline that all Arab partnerships with the US and of course with Israel are contingent upon a lasting peace through the two-state solution, which the US can bring about.

This dimension has gained particular attention after authorities in Gaza have recently updated the death toll from Israel's war on the enclave to 61,709, having added thousands who are missing- and now presumed dead. Under dire conditions, lacking basic services till now 111,588 people have also been injured".

The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has, however, noted that the US is "troubled" by the humanitarian situation in Gaza. His comments came after at least 114 Palestinians were killed in Israeli air strikes on 15 May. Asked by the BBC if the Trump administration remained fully behind the nature of Israel's military action given the scale of the recent Israeli attacks and its bombing of hospitals, he once again called on Hamas to surrender and release hostages and said there could be no peace so long as the group exists. "That said, we're not immune or in any way insensitive to the suffering of the people of Gaza, and I know that there's opportunities here to provide aid for them," he said.

Analysts Jeffrey Sachs and Sybil Fares have in this regard reiterated that Trump hopefully was given to understand by the Gulf elite that what is at stake is not simply a diplomatic negotiation. The two-state solution is a practical imperative and a test of international resolve. There can be no peace in the region, and no long-term development, if Israel continues to maraud its way through Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, and others. Israel must be compelled - through diplomacy - to live within its own borders, and to allow Palestine to live within its legal borders, those of June 4, 1967. If the US backs the admission of Palestine to the UN, this will happen.

Analyst Malawista has interestingly observed that the Gulf's most powerful weapon is not military, a United Nations (UN) Security Council seat, or a legacy of global diplomacy. Choosing multilateralism and mega-projects over militaries and old-world diplomacy, they are tipping the scale without firing a single shot. Their approach is more modern, where money, alliances, and a vision for the future are the weapon of choice.

Muhammad Zamir, a former Ambassador, is an analyst specialised in foreign affairs, right to information and good governance. muhammadzamir0@gmail.com