United States President Donald Trump’s Spring 2025 tour of the Middle East was nothing short of momentous. Over the span of three days, with stops in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, Trump presided over the signing of agreements valued at more than $2 trillion across aviation, defence, technology, energy, and education.
Greeted with lavish royal welcomes, state dinners, and even the UAE’s Burj Khalifa lit up in American colours, Trump’s visit underscored a dramatic deepening of Washington-Gulf partnerships. The White House hailed the trip as a “huge success, locking in over $2 trillion in great deals” – including a $600 billion Saudi investment pledge, a $1.2 trillion economic exchange accord with Qatar, and hundreds of billions in new trade deals with all three countries.
This massive haul of agreements signals a significant shift in tone from Trump’s first presidential foray into the region in 2017. Then, as a newly elected leader, the Republican’s focus was on arms sales and counterterrorism; in 2025, the emphasis expanded to cutting-edge tech and economic development.
“I have absolutely no doubt that the relationship will only get bigger and better,” Trump remarked in Abu Dhabi, projecting confidence that these deals mark the start of a new era in US-Middle East relations.
Surrounded by Gulf royals and a who’s-who of American CEOs, Trump cast himself as dealmaker-in-chief, leveraging personal diplomacy and American commercial clout to reassert Washington’s influence in a region courted aggressively by China and others. The result was a bundle of mega-deals spanning everything from Boeing jets to artificial intelligence ventures, all forged on a foundation of mutual economic interest.
From aviation to AI, pacts galore
Trump’s itinerary – Riyadh, Doha, Abu Dhabi – brought a whirlwind of signings. In each capital, US and Middle Eastern officials inked high-value agreements cutting across many sectors. Notable deals announced during the visit include aviation, defence, technology, data, energy, education, infrastructure, and culture.
Boeing clinched historic aircraft sales in the region. Qatar Airways ordered up to 210 Boeing widebody jets (787s and 777Xs) worth $96 billion, the largest widebody purchase in Boeing’s history. In the UAE, Etihad Airways committed $14.5 billion for 28 Boeing 787 and 777X airliners powered by GE engines. These deals will upgrade Gulf carriers’ fleets and are touted to support tens of thousands of US aerospace jobs.
Security ties got a major boost. Saudi Arabia and the US signed the largest defence agreement in American history – nearly $142 billion for advanced fighter jets, missile defence, warships, and more. Riyadh is now Washington’s biggest foreign military sales customer, with active cases valued at over $129 billion.
In Qatar, Trump oversaw deals for cutting-edge weapons: Raytheon will provide a $1 billion counter-drone system, making Qatar the first international buyer of that tech, and General Atomics will sell $2 billion worth of MQ-9B Reaper drones. Qatar also inked a statement of intent outlining another $38 billion in potential defence investments – including support for the US airbase at Al Udeid and future air and naval security projects. These agreements strengthen Gulf militaries with American hardware while reinforcing US security commitments in the region.
In fact, according to the White House, the arms package was “the largest defence cooperation agreement” Washington has ever concluded with any country, involving more than a dozen American defence companies. It proved to be a diplomatic victory for Uncle Sam, as it reversed the Joe Biden administration’s failure to finalise a defence pact with Riyadh as part of a broad deal that envisioned Saudi Arabia normalising ties with Israel. While the White House did not mention if Riyadh would be permitted to purchase Lockheed’s F-35 jets, the cutting-edge stealth aircraft that the Kingdom has reportedly been interested in for years.
A centrepiece of the tour was unprecedented cooperation in data and artificial intelligence. The UAE will host a new Five-gigawatt “AI super-campus” – the largest AI research and data centre facility outside the US – under a US-UAE tech partnership.
In parallel, Washington agreed to ease export restrictions so that the UAE can import up to 500,000 of Nvidia’s most advanced semiconductor chips for AI development, a capability previously blocked over Washington’s fears of Chinese access. Saudi Arabia struck a similar bargain: its new state-owned AI company, HUMAIN, obtained hundreds of thousands of Nvidia’s cutting-edge Blackwell AI chips, giving the Kingdom raw computing power on par with top global tech hubs.
Big American tech firms also jumped in – Cisco signed on with a UAE partner to develop local AI talent, Amazon Web Services announced cloud and cybersecurity initiatives, and Google’s Alphabet agreed to help Saudi Arabia launch a “Global AI Hub” with the Public Investment Fund. These deals marry Gulf capital with American know-how, aiming to transform the region into a leader in artificial intelligence and data services.
Several agreements advanced Gulf nations’ ambitions beyond oil. In Abu Dhabi, ExxonMobil, Occidental, and EOG Resources partnered with ADNOC (Abu Dhabi’s national oil company) on a $60 billion project to boost oil and gas output – a pact expected to create jobs in both countries and ensure stable energy supplies.
Meanwhile, Emirates Global Aluminium (EGA) will invest $4 billion to build a new aluminium smelter in Oklahoma – notably, America’s first new aluminium plant in 45 years – doubling US aluminium output capacity while strengthening critical mineral supply chains. In Qatar, Houston-based McDermott secured $8.5 billion in contracts to support Qatar’s LNG expansion with offshore engineering, directly tying US expertise to Qatar’s gas infrastructure growth.
And across Saudi Arabia’s massive development projects – from the new King Salman International Airport to the Qiddiya entertainment city – American firms like Hill International and Jacobs are involved in under $2 billion worth of infrastructure and consulting contracts. These deals underscore that the partnership isn’t only about high tech – it also cements Washington’s involvement in the Gulf’s physical transformation and energy future.
Taken together, the deals paint a picture of a Middle East pivoting to a high-tech, knowledge-based future with American partnership. The breadth of cooperation – from museums to missiles – speaks to a comprehensive strategic realignment between the United States and its Gulf partners.
Shifting tone and priorities
Trump’s 2025 Middle East foray deliberately echoed his very first trip as president in May 2017 – but with some notable twists. In 2017, Trump also landed first in Riyadh, where Saudi royals rolled out an extravagant reception and the president famously joined a sword dance amid glowing orbs and opulent decor.
Back then, Trump announced a record $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia (part of a promised $350 billion over 10 years), and he convened dozens of Arab and Muslim leaders to rally against terrorism. The tone was muscular and security-focused: Trump lauded Middle Eastern allies for “driving out” extremists and pointedly refused to lecture on human rights, signalling a transactional approach.
It was a honeymoon of sorts between Trump and Gulf monarchies – but many of 2017’s grand pledges remained aspirational. In fact, out of the $110 billion in arms sales, Trump touted in 2017, only about $30 billion had been implemented by 2025. Some business deals never fully materialised; for example, a Saudi plan to buy 50 US drilling rigs resulted in only 11 delivered in the ensuing years.
The 2017 trip’s impact was also marred by geopolitics soon after – a bitter rift erupted when Saudi Arabia and the UAE blockaded Qatar just weeks later (a move Trump initially appeared to support), revealing cracks in Gulf unity.
Fast forward to May 2025 and the landscape has evolved. The intra-Gulf feud has since healed, and Trump’s itinerary notably included Doha – a sign of Qatar’s reintegration and of Washington’s intent to balance relationships with all its Gulf partners.
In contrast to 2017’s singular focus on Saudi Arabia, the 2025 tour was a triple-stop diplomatic marathon, symbolically treating Riyadh, Doha, and Abu Dhabi as co-equals in regional leadership. The focus, too, had broadened. Security cooperation was still key, but economic and technological partnerships took centre stage.
One reason is the shifting regional dynamics: Gulf leaders are now focusing more on commerce than conflict. Trump capitalised on this emerging momentum.
In place of a counterterrorism summit, he headlined business forums – rubbing shoulders with CEOs like Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Tesla’s Elon Musk, Amazon’s Andy Jassy, and Palantir’s Alex Karp, who all flew in for deals. The presence of these tech titans underscored a new tone: America’s engagement is no longer just about selling weapons, but also about jointly building the Middle East’s tech economy.
Another shift was in priorities and rhetoric. In 2017, Trump made combating Iran’s influence a marquee theme, aligning with Riyadh’s hawkish stance. In 2025, while still warning Tehran to “take a new and better path” on its nuclear programme, Trump also floated prospects of a revised deal if Iran complies. At the same time, Trump shocked some observers by holding out Saudi Arabia as a model for regional modernisation, even suggesting war-torn Syria might follow suit if given economic incentives.
The geopolitical context is also more favourable to Trump’s deal-making now. The Abraham Accords he facilitated in 2020 have endured, creating new business opportunities that span Israel and the Gulf. Though Israel was not on Trump’s 2025 itinerary, the spirit of regional integration it represents hung in the air. Gulf states, flush with petrodollar wealth after recent oil booms, are eager to invest in diversification and welcome US partnerships to balance growing ties with China. Indeed, China’s shadow loomed over the visit: in the interim years, Beijing had courted the Gulf. One must also remember that President Xi Jinping received a red-carpet welcome in Riyadh in 2022, and China’s tech and infrastructure investments have expanded across the Middle East.
The Biden administration responded by restricting exports of top-tier US tech, like advanced microchips, to Gulf nations for fear they might leak to China. Trump’s 2025 deals essentially reverse that stance – offering the UAE and Saudi Arabia access to cutting-edge US semiconductors and AI technology on the condition they “keep the tech for themselves” and enforce safeguards against diversion to rivals.
As one analysis noted, many of Trump’s new agreements “broke with the policies of Joe Biden’s administration” on tech control. Gulf leaders, for their part, appeared delighted to engage on these terms – even gifting Trump a $400 million Boeing 747-8 jet (courtesy of Qatar’s Emir) for future use as Air Force One in a symbol of personal rapport.
In sum, the 2017 and 2025 visits bookend Trump’s approach to the Middle East: the first trip was about resetting alliances and striking big defence deals, while the latest was about leveraging those alliances into broader economic win-wins.
Gulf states gain big
Beyond the dollar signs, Trump’s Middle East agreements are poised to reshape the region’s development trajectory. For Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, the deals promise not just short-term commerce but also long-term leaps in technology, infrastructure, and “digital sovereignty.”
In Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, and Doha alike, leaders have been articulating ambitious visions (Saudi’s Vision 2030, Qatar’s National Vision 2030, and UAE’s Centennial 2071 plan) to create smart, knowledge-based economies. The US partnerships announced in May 2025 directly feed those agendas in several ways:
AI technology advancements
The highlight for many in the Gulf is access to cutting-edge American technology – especially in artificial intelligence. By securing hundreds of thousands of Nvidia’s top-tier AI chips and building massive data centres to house them, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are ensuring they can develop AI models and big-data applications at a world-class level.
The ability to process and analyse one’s own data domestically, with the best hardware available. The new AI mega-campus in Abu Dhabi will reportedly have computing capacity rivalling the biggest tech labs in Silicon Valley.
Also, hand-in-hand with AI comes the realisation of smart city visions across the Gulf. Saudi Arabia’s planned city of NEOM – a futuristic metropolis of robots and renewable energy – and other giga-projects will require sophisticated tech integration. The deals with the American companies provide vital expertise: American engineering giants such as Parsons and Jacobs are already working on Saudi smart infrastructure, with 30 major project wins valued up to $97 billion for Parsons alone, supporting thousands of US and Saudi jobs.
Those projects range from high-speed transit systems to tech-augmented tourist resorts. By bringing in US partners, Gulf governments ensure their new cities are built to the highest standards and filled with the latest innovations.
Qatar, for its part, is leveraging US inputs as it builds smart infrastructure for the 2030 Asian Games and expands projects like Lusail Smart City. The $8.5 billion in LNG infrastructure contracts to McDermott also means Qatar’s energy sector will be more efficient and tech-enabled, indirectly supporting its urban development with better power and utilities.
Moreover, these ventures come with training programmes – e.g. the Quantinuum-Qatar joint venture will train a quantum computing workforce locally – ensuring Gulf nationals gain the skills to run the smart economies being built.
Crucially, digital sovereignty is a recurring theme. For instance, Saudi Arabia’s deal to buy advanced semiconductors for its PIF-owned companies means those chips will reside under Riyadh’s control, powering national projects from smart utilities to advanced R&D, rather than having to rely on foreign cloud providers who might host data abroad. The Gulf states are effectively securing the tools to become producers, not just consumers, in the technology space – a fundamental shift that these agreements accelerate.
New era of US-Middle East partnership
Trump’s 2025 Middle East tour will be remembered as a watershed in US-Gulf relations – one that recast the alliance in terms of enterprise and innovation. In a region historically defined by oil wealth and security pacts, the visit spotlighted a broader narrative: investments, technology exchange, and joint nation-building. Sceptics note that Trump is quick to declare victory – the true test will be implementing these deals in the years ahead. Yet there is an undeniable momentum.
For Donald Trump, the political payoff is clear. At home, he can tout “$2 trillion in great deals” creating jobs and exports, reinforcing his image as a master negotiator delivering results. Abroad, he has reasserted American primacy in a region where rival powers have made inroads.
The fact that Saudi Arabia openly aimed for a $600 billion package ahead of his visit – and achieved it – shows the degree of buy-in from Crown Prince MBS, who has emerged as a linchpin figure for US interests. In turn, Qatar’s generous gestures (including a VIP airliner gift) and the UAE’s trillion-dollar pledges signal that even smaller states see the advantage in anchoring themselves to the American orbit.
We are likely witnessing the beginning of a new chapter in the Middle East – one characterised less by ideology and more by investment. As one regional commentator put it, Gulf leaders today are “turning petro-dollars into techno-dollars.” The deals on data centres, AI labs, and smart cities suggest a future Persian Gulf that is as much a Silicon Valley as it is an oil basin. It carries profound implications: economically empowering young populations, politically stabilising nations through growth, and perhaps easing the grievances that have driven conflict. Of course, pitfalls remain – from ensuring the technology isn’t misused or proliferated, to managing great-power rivalries as the US, China, and others jostle for influence.