Trump wraps up Gulf tour with AI and energy deals in UAE
President Donald Trump said on Friday on his last stop on a Gulf tour focused on business deals that the United Arab Emirates and the United States had agreed a path for the Gulf country to buy advanced AI semiconductors from US companies, a major win for Abu Dhabi's efforts to become a global AI hub.
Trump also wrapped up his Gulf tour of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE with a pledge by oil power Abu Dhabi - the UAE's capital and richest emirate - to hike the value of its energy investments in the US to $440 billion in the next decade.
Trump departed for Washington after whirlwind meetings with leaders in the Gulf aimed at securing financial commitments from the wealthy energy producers that could boost the US economy and create jobs.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
In March, when senior UAE officials met Trump, the UAE had committed to a 10-year, $1.4 trillion investment framework in the US in sectors including energy, AI and manufacturing to deepen reciprocal ties.
"We're making great progress for the $1.4 (trillion) that UAE has announced it intends to spend in the United States," Trump said in Abu Dhabi, at the end of the four-day tour that has concentrated, at least publicly, on investment, not security crises in the Middle East, including Israel's war in Gaza.
His public diplomacy was limited to a meeting with Syria's new interim leader after deciding to remove sanctions on Syria at the behest of Saudi Arabia, in a major shift in US policy.
The AI deal is a boost for the UAE, which has been trying to balance its relations with its longtime ally the US and its largest trading partner China.
It reflects the Trump administration's confidence that the chips can be managed securely, in part by requiring data centres be managed by US companies.
"Yesterday the two countries also agreed to create a path for UAE to buy some of the world's most advanced AI semiconductors from American companies, a very big contract," Trump said.
"This will generate billions and billions of dollars in business and accelerate the UAE's plans to become a really major player in artificial intelligence," he added.
New deals announced with UAE, totalling over $200 billion, included a $14.5 billion commitment from Etihad Airways to invest in 28 American-made Boeing aircraft.
ENERGY INVESTMENTS
The UAE energy investment commitment was announced during a presentation by Sultan Al Jaber, Abu Dhabi state energy giant ADNOC's chief executive, one of a number of huge financial pledges Trump has drawn from the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
The enterprise value of UAE investments in the US energy sector will be boosted to $440 billion by 2035 from $70 billion now, Al Jaber told Trump, adding US energy firms will also invest in the UAE.
"Our partners have committed new investments worth $60 billion in upstream oil and gas, as well as new and unconventional opportunities," Jaber said in front of a slide showing projects in the UAE under the logos of US companies ExxonMobil, Oxy and EOG Resources.
XRG, the international investment arm of ADNOC, is seeking to make a significant investment in US natural gas, Jaber, who is also XRG's executive chairman and minister of industry and advanced technology, has said.
SYRIA AND IRAN
The lifting of US sanctions on Syria cleared the way for a deal announced on Friday between the Syrian government and Dubai-based DP World, Syrian state news agency SANA said on Friday. The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding worth $800 million to develop Syria's port of Tartous.
Trump said he did not consult ally Israel, Syria's longtime foe, about the US decision to recognise Syria's new government, despite deep Israeli suspicion of Islamist President Sharaa's administration.
"I didn't ask them about that. I thought it was the right thing to do. I've been given a lot of credit for doing it. Look, we want Syria to succeed," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, shortly after departing Abu Dhabi.
Trump urged Sharaa to establish ties with Israel and join the Abraham Accords, normalisation deals between Israel, the UAE, Bahrain,and Morocco brokered by the United States during his first term.
Trump on Friday said Iran has his administration's proposal for a nuclear deal and knows it needs to move quickly, a day after saying Washington and Tehran were close to a nuclear deal.
"They have a proposal. More importantly, they know they have to move quickly or something bad—something bad's going to happen," Trump told reporters.
