By Tareq Yousef AlShumaimry
United States President Donald Trump ended his four-day eventful tour of the Middle East (ME) on Friday in the United Arab Emirates. Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, he arrived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia before heading to the Qatari capital Doha on Wednesday. President Trump’s visit to the three Middle Eastern states that are part of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), is considered significant, as it is the first overseas trip by the US President since taking office for a second term—excluding his visit to the Vatican for the funeral of Pope Francis in late April.
Tellingly, President Trump’s trip to the Middle East did not include a visit to America’s supposedly closest ally in the region, Israel, even though Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nethanyahu was the first world leader to visit the White House since inauguration of the second Trump presidency. Although some political observers read much into the exclusion of Israel, the fact is Trump’s first trip to the Middle East is less of a political visit, and largely geared towards signing lucrative trade deals with some of the richest nations in the world.
Underlining the economic aspect of Trump’s visit, his talks in Riyadh, Doha, and Abu Dhabi were centered on garnering investments into the US economy and promoting mega deals for US businesses. Politics, when it did feature during the trip, came largely from the president’s characteristic off-the-cuff remarks, including on Iran, Lebanon and Palestine. However, the US President did spring a political surprise by announcing that the US would remove sanctions on Syria, and then following up on this by meeting Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh.
