Bonhomie amid Business for Trump
US President Donald Trump serenaded Arab leaders while whizzing across a region where everything from victory to victimhood is attributed to American influence. Signing massive business deals in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Trump virtually jettisoned any mention of the Israel-Hamas conflict, however not forgetting to scoff at pet peeve Iran during his four-day Gulf tour. Caught up in a controversy over claims US mediated the India-Pakistan ceasefire, it was in Qatar that Trump cleared the air, saying he had only helped guns fall silent on both sides, while addressing US troops at the largest American military installation in the Middle East. His highly publicised comments imply Washington did not have a direct role to play in the vaunted truce.
Trump's overt praise of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman stood out during the US president's visit to Riyadh, "Mohammed, do you sleep at night? How do you sleep? What a job. He tosses and turns like some of us, tosses and turns all night...How do I make it better?" The US leader was alluding to the Saudi Crown Prince's attempts at drastic economic reforms meant to leapfrog the kingdom out of its conservative mindset into a futuristic powerhouse.
Then came the arms deal. In the largest defence cooperation agreement any country has signed with Washington, Trump agreed to sell Saudi Arabia arms worth nearly $142bn, a fraction of the $600bn in business agreements. The Middle East is forging a future defined by commerce, not chaos, he said in the Saudi capital. Regional scholars believe Trump's visit echoes his "America First" ideology. "He is expecting not only to reposition the US as the main economic partner, displacing China, but also using the military and political leverage to push for normalisation with Israel and reduce the margin of manoeuver of Iran and its allies in the region," said Luciano Zaccara, Research Associate Professor in Gulf Politics at Qatar University in Doha.
The import of his visit unfolded as he announced the lifting of sanctions on Syria, to a standing ovation by Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, widely known by his initials MBS. The handshake between Trump and interim Syrian President Ahmed Al Sharaa in the gilded confines of Riyadh's royal palace, with MBS looking on triumphantly, said a lot. A former militant, Saudi-born Al Sharaa was placed on the US Specially Designated Global Terrorist List in 2013. Here he was, on May 14, 2025, in the company of heads of state and the top American leadership, rubbing shoulders with a US Republican leader whose global repute is given as much to wily business acumen as to his brash demeanour.
Middle East politics is hard to fathom, let alone analyse. Experts say Middle Eastern political processes defy observation, discourage generalisation and resist explanation. From Iran to Lebanon, there is hardly a moment when the Middle East is not regurgitating the benefits it strives to achieve through toil and exertion. It is hard to believe that the leader of the United States was just a few hundred kilometres from Israel, its staunchest ally in the region, at a time Gaza is burning and Tel Aviv is on a ferment. Yet, he decided to give Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a short shrift by deciding not to visit his country.
The fact that President Trump has not included Israel in his trip is a snub to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, says Barak Barfi, a scholar in Arab and Islamic Affairs and a research fellow at New America Foundation. "I think Trump is miffed with Netanyahu's behaviour. From Iran to Gaza, Netanyahu has undermined American priorities," says Barfi.
The tycoon in Trump was clearly visible during a trip that was under media glare even before it began. Reports that Qatar planned to gift a Boeing 747 to be refitted into an Air Force One, the official aircraft of the US President, created some unease in the Democratic dispensation back home and gave Trump's detractors some ammo to target the Republican leader.
Qatar's grand welcome to Trump as he landed in capital Doha from Saudi Arabia was not lost on symbolism. The azure waters off the Doha Corniche provided an idyllic backdrop to Tesla's Red Cyber-trucks and mounted camels ushering in the US president -- the stark contrast underscoring the country's embrace of modernity while keeping alive its heritage.
The White House said Qatar and the US signed pacts that would generate $1.2 trillion in economic exchange. Part of this is a $96bn deal under which Boeing will supply 160 twin-aisle planes to Qatar Airways. "Trump has introduced a doctrine which is 'America(n Business) First,'" says Zaccara, the Qatar University academic.
In fact, adds Zaccara, it is clear that Trump's "America First" is also applicable to Israel, but it does not mean that the US will abandon Israel, however given a choice he will do what benefits his nation even if it is against Israel's interest. "The start of negotiations with Iran, truce with the Houthis and the freeing of an American hostage from Hamas clearly show that Trump does not even inform Netanyahu about his decisions," explains Zaccara.
At a business roundtable in Doha, Trump declared that India has offered to do away with tariffs on US as part of a trade deal. Though India has rebuffed his claims, it could be a game-changer in economic cooperation between the two trading partners if any such deal actually comes to fruition. Before wrapping up his Qatar visit, Trump addressed American troops at the sprawling Al-Udeid Air base near Doha in which Qatar will invest some $10bn. The base that can house up to 10,000 troops is the largest US military installation in the Middle East. The country of about 2.8 million shares a special strategic relationship with the US, one that was clearly on display during Trump's visit.
On the final leg of his tour, Trump on Thursday landed in Abu Dhabi where he visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, sending a message of communal amity and tolerance. Economic collaborations underpin bilateral ties as the US remains the largest trading partner of the UAE outside Asia and the sixth largest globally.
When it came to business, Trump was all praise for UAE's Artificial Intelligence development plans. The country signed commercial agreements worth $200bn with the US, including one for the construction of a UAE-AI Campus in Abu Dhabi.
The three-nation tour had everything Trump could wish for-- fetching for the US business, bonhomie and bravado. When back in Washington, the US president would like to punch the air and say -- "Habibi, we have made America Grand Again!" Critics will however wait for a time when he can 'Make America Great Again.'
