Trump heads to Middle East with oil, arms, nuclear ambitions in focus

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – The President of the United States, Donald Trump, will reduce the Persian Gulf region, or as he soon calls it, the Arabic Gulf – on May 13, for an official trip with stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

The bets are high, since the visits take place amid turbulent geopolitical tensions. On the agenda there will be the ceasefire conversations of the Israel-Gaza War, oil, commerce, investment agreements and the potential of new policy developments in the areas of advanced exports of semiconductors and nuclear programs.

“We hope to see many ads. And I think that in a wide spectrum or areas too,” said the Chief Economist of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, CNBCS Dan Murphy. He pointed out the possible elimination of Trump’s 10% rates on aluminum and steel, which would be positive for the Gulf States as some of them export those metals to the United States, although they represent only a small percentage of the GDP of the countries.

Trump has long enjoyed a warm relationship with the Gulf’s Arab states, in particular the EAU and Saudi Arabia, where their children have been several commercial companies and planned real estate projects. These relations could be the hands of the countries when it comes to negotiating new commercial agreements, while breeding Conerns among critics about possible conflicts of interest, accusations that the Trump family rejects.

Duration The initial mandate of the president in the position, his first trip abroad went to Saudi Arabia, a country that now organizes the negotiations that Trump expects to end the Russian-Ukraine war, which makes the kingdom increasingly important for Washington. Meanwhile, Qatar has played a central role in negotiations between Israel and Hamas by students and hostages.

The presidential visit is attracting several Titans of Wall Street and Silicon Valley to the Saudi kingdom. A Saudi-US Investment Forum announced this week and will take place on May 13 in Riyadh will feature guests such as the Blackrock CEO, Larry Fink, the Palantir CEO, Alex Karp and the CEO of the main companies such as CitigroupIBM, Qualcomm” Alphabetand Franklin Templeton, among others. The AI ​​of the White House and the Crypto Tsar David Sacks will also be present.

“We also hope to see many investment agreements that Bee announced,” said Malik. “And both ways, we have already seen the EAU announcing a series of investments in the US. In areas such as AI, energy, aluminum, but we also believe that they will be opportunities for US companies to enter investment.”

Both Saudi Arabia and the EAU have invested a lot in AI infrastructure with the aim of becoming world centers for technology. Therefore, probably the most important thing for these leaders is the future of US semiconductors exports, the most advanced to those who have not obtained access due to national security conerns. But that can soon be changing.

The Trump administration announced on Wednesday its plan to terminate a “dissemination rule of AI” of the Biden era, which imposed strict export controls to advanced chips, only to friendly nations with the United States. The rule will be replaced by “a much simpler rule that unleashes US innovation and guarantees the American domain of AI,” said a spokesman for the United States Department of Commerce, Wedesday, thought that the details of the new rule have been shared.

The firm of AI based in the EAU G42 has made efforts to align with the US regulations, including the disinfece of Chinese companies and the association with Microsoftthat last year invested $ 1.5 billion in G42.

The Trump administration has been activated in conversations with Iran about its nuclear program, conversations that the EAU and Saudi Arabia have expressed their support. That enthusiasm marks a marked contrast with the attitudes of those countries towards any American treatment with the duration of Tehran in the years of Obama.

At the same time, Saudi Arabia is its own civil nuclear program and has asked the United States for a focus and assistance in this direction. Any support from the United States for a Saudi nuclear program previously depended on Saudi Arabia that normalized diplomatic relations with the ally of the United States Israel, but that could last this visit, according to the sources of matter or the subject of media reports.

The Secretary of Energy of the United States, Chris Wright, a visit to the kingdom in April, said that Saudi Arabia and the United States were in a “path” to a civil nuclear agreement, but that any additional announcement would come from Trump himself.

Another important issue will be Gaza’s future. Trump has promised to bring war, while also suggesting a controversial suggestion that the United States could take control of the war devastated by the war, which is described as “important real estate,” he says that Arab leaders are rebuked.

The United States has continued to press for high fire agreements, more recently floating a cessation of 21 days of hostilities and the release of some hostages, while Israel approved this week the expansion of fighting and territorial control in Gaza.

“We still have to listen to a comprehensive plan of the Arab world,” Greg Branch, founder of the Eau Branch Global Capital Advisors, on Friday while arguing Trump’s next visit.

“If we are going to see an answer that will be directed by Arabic, it is probably now or never,” said Branch. “I think that will be handled very delicately behind the scene … probably more a long -term geopolitical risk than any immediate macro risk.”

Branch suggested that American sanctions could also discuss Syria under his new government. Meanwhile, the reports that the Trump administration will announce that the Arab states of the Arab states will announce an American reluctance of the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Gulf at a time of delicate negotiations.

Oil prices will also be focused; Trump has long pushed OPEC states, led by Saudi Arabia, to pump more oil at lower prices for US consumers. For a combination of reasons, Saudi Arabia is doing precisely that, but may have to change course in the coming months if prices remain moderate, harming the revenue of the kingdom.

In that sense, finance will be an important agenda element for the visit of Trump’s kingdom, according to ADCB Malik.

In November, Saudi Arabia promised to invest $ 600 billion in the USA. In the course of the Trump term, but it also has high costs for its own investment ambitions Vision 2030. The lowest world prices of oil and public expense projects of large tickets have caused budgetary deficits of driving for Riad.

“With the oil prices where they are, Saudi will analyze greater financial support in the United States and seek to progress with its investment program,” said Malik.

Correction: This article has been updated to reflect the state of G42 as a private technology company.