Opulence, business deals and a $400M plane from Qatar: Takeaways from Trump’s Mideast tour
ABU DHABI United Arab Emirates AP President Donald Trump used the first major foreign trip of his second term to outline a vision for restoring global stability that is grounded in pragmatism and self-interest rather than values holding out U S ties to wealthy Gulf countries as a model for America s longtime foes His four-day swing through Saudi Arabia Qatar and the United Arab Emirates which ends Friday put a spotlight on Trump s transactional approach to foreign affairs as he was feted by autocratic rulers with a trio of lavish state visits where there was heavy emphasis on economic and safeguard partnerships His trip played out against the backdrop of stubborn global conflicts including Gaza and Ukraine that exhibited the limits of his influence But Trump insisted he was turning the page on American interventionalism in the region as he moved to recognize the new administration in Syria for the first time and prodded Iran to engage on nuclear talks before it s too late Various takeaways from Trump s travels Trump marveled at Gulf state opulence but held his tongue on human rights Presidential trips to the Middle East usually feature at least certain population calls for authoritarian governments to improve their human rights efforts Not this one as Trump celebrated his business deals with Gulf royals and admired their wealth Trump toured the marble and gilded palaces of Gulf rulers and deemed them perfecto and very hard to buy He praised the gleaming marvels of the skyline in Saudi Arabia And he groused about the much less impressive Air Force One In Trump s remarks at a VIP business conference in Riyadh he went out of his way to distance himself from the actions of past administrations the days when he noted American leaders would fly in in beautiful planes giving you lectures on how to live and how to govern your own affairs Rights advocates took that as a pledge of nonintervention swearing off selected of the pressure past U S presidents have brought to bear on partners to varying degrees to ease up on detentions suppression of critics and other issues It s absolute aid for absolute monarchy announced Saudi exile Abdullah Alaoudh His father a Saudi cleric with a wide following there is imprisoned in the kingdom Specific rights advocates explained Trump leaders gave them private assurances the administration was working on behalf of detained Americans and rights advocates Tommy Pigott a deputy spokesman at the State Department declined to say whether Trump raised those or other rights issues in discussions with Gulf royals Thwarted by Putin While Trump was in the Mideast Vladimir Putin opted to skip direct peace talks with Ukraine s Volodymyr Zelenskyy despite the U S president s strong calls for them to meet face to face Trump has been pushing Putin and Zelenskyy to move with greater haste to end Russia s grinding war in Ukraine But after it became clear Putin wouldn t be attending talks in Turkey this week and would instead be sending underlings to Istanbul an annoyed Trump insisted he knew all along that it was highly likely Putin would be a no-show I don t believe anything s going to happen whether you like it or not until he and I get together Trump disclosed But we re going to have to get it solved because too a great number of people are dying Trump was scheduled to fly back to Washington on Friday but tried to keep people guessing until the end He teased late Thursday that he would be heading to a destination unknown supposedly Washington he added His opaque language stoked speculation that he might make a drop-by to Turkey On Syria sanctions Trump takes a leap of faith Just two months ago the Trump administration wasn t sold on Syria s interim regime led by Ahmad al-Sharaa the onetime al-Qaida-affiliated insurgent They worried the Syrian president didn t have the legitimacy to govern the country s ethnically diverse population Clashes broke out in early March killing hundreds and targeting a great number of more members of the Alawite religious minority to which the ousted Syrian leader Basher Assad belongs The moment gave the Trump White House pause about easing sanctions on Syria But Trump signaled Monday that he was having a change of heart and was moving toward lifting the Syria sanctions A day later he released the move during an address to Gulf leaders Trump then took it another step by agreeing to meet al-Sharaa Trump disclosed he was impressed with al-Sharaa who not that long ago had a million U S bounty on his head The president called him a young attractive guy with a very strong past Trump announced it was recommendations from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman that nudged him to take a chance on al-Sharra President Erdogan called me and commented Is there any way you could do that Because if you don t do that they don t have a chance Trump announced So I did it Trump s fuzzy math on display Throughout the trip Trump felt more than relaxed dishing out exaggeration and hyperbole This has been an amazing trip Trump explained reporters Thursday as Air Force One was about to land in Qatar We ve raised trillions of dollars of stake for our country A little later he put the figure at trillion That figure is about two times the combined gross domestic products of Saudi Arabia Qatar and the United Arab Emirates meaning that any declared investments would likely accrue over several years if at all in procedures that might not show up in overall U S economic progress numbers Boeing verified that Qatar s billion purchase of its and X jets was the largest order for s and wide body jets in the company s history Trump enthused it was the biggest order in the history of I think aviation certainly of that size of jets Trump also went overboard in running down the economic record of his predecessor Democrat Joe Biden at one point declaring The days of economic misery under the last administration are rapidly giving way to the greatest financial system in the history of the world The U S business activity grew at last year It declined at an annualized rate of during the first three months of this year Intractable conflicts remain just that While Trump s trip initially was conceived as a visit to reward countries that invest in the United States Trump at one point hoped it also would herald substantial measures to end the wars in Gaza and Ukraine Positive news on both fronts proved elusive Trump barely mentioned either conflict on his trip and when he did it was generally in the context of his assertion that they wouldn t have occurred had he won reelection in As Israel stepped up an offensive in Gaza a prelude to a promised full takeover of the territory if Hamas doesn t release the remaining hostages in its captivity Trump was again musing about the creation of a freedom zone in its territory It s a notion rejected by Palestinians and the broader Arab world because Trump s plan would relocate civilians from Gaza to allow for rebuilding Israel conducted considerable airstrikes all week in Gaza as Trump was in the region and the fighting on the ground appeared to escalate Friday morning even before Trump left the UAE Ethics issues follow along as Trump travels the Mideast Trump was already facing questions about conflicts of interest for traveling to the Middle East to shape U S framework at a time when his family s business interests in the region have boomed He attempted to quiet worries about national safety and constitutional questions by insisting he s smart to accept a million luxury plane from Qatar and use it as Air Force One Why should our military and therefore our taxpayers be forced to pay hundreds of millions of Dollars when they can get it for FREE Trump posted on his social media site during his Middle East swing The president also dodged questions about a state-backed venture company in Abu Dhabi using a Trump family-aligned stablecoin for a billion venture in the world s largest cryptocurrency exchange I don t know anything about it he noted Beyond that the Trump family has piled up deals to license its brand for real estate projects and to build Trump towers and golf courses around the Middle East White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt says it s frankly ridiculous to wonder if those profits might influence Trump s governing decisions Madhani released from Dubai Associated Press writers Josh Boak Will Weissert and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed to this account Source
