Bring the East closer: Trump intends to sign mega-deals on a tour of the region

Donald Trump has started his foreign tour — he will visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. In Riyadh, the US president will attend a summit with the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. The possibility of concluding a nuclear agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia, as well as the normalization of the kingdom's relations with Israel, will be discussed. The visit is accompanied by the signing of large-scale economic agreements. The leaders are likely to discuss the Ukrainian crisis during the talks. The American president stated earlier that he was considering the possibility of visiting Istanbul after the end of the tour, where a meeting of representatives of Russia and Ukraine is scheduled for May 15.

The summit of the United States and the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Persian Gulf

US President Donald Trump has begun his first foreign tour of his second term with a Middle East tour of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. The diplomatic trip to the region is accompanied by large-scale economic agreements and attempts to restart Washington's ambitious plans.

The agenda is as intense as possible: discussing the possibility of concluding a US-Saudi nuclear agreement, prospects for normalizing relations between the Saudis and Israelis, as well as strengthening defense cooperation. The central event of the trip will be Trump's participation in the summit with the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in Riyadh.

Since the first term of Trump and the subsequent administration of Joe Biden, Washington has been harboring the idea of the so—called "Arab NATO" - a regional collective security architecture aimed at countering the threat from Tehran. Its key element was to be an alliance with the Gulf monarchies, supported by high-tech air defense systems, as well as economic and defense agreements. However, all these initiatives have so far remained unrealized.

Meanwhile, Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud continues to advance the kingdom's ambitious agenda of becoming a global player. As a tool, he considers not only huge investments, but also the conclusion of a defense agreement with the United States, as well as the development of civilian nuclear energy, which will become a separate topic of negotiations.

Riyadh is seeking Washington's assistance in building nuclear reactors, without having sufficient experience in this field. According to the Reuters news agency, the United States has already abandoned the requirement of mandatory recognition of Israel by the kingdom as a condition of the deal.

— This summit will be very important for building the features of the Middle East, both from a political and economic point of view. The visit will culminate in the signing of dozens of agreements and memoranda between the countries. The leaders will also discuss price stabilization and energy markets," Saudi political analyst Mubarak Al-Aati told Izvestia.

Back in January, shortly after Trump's inauguration, the Saudi prince promised to invest $600 billion in the American economy. However, the American leader stated that he wants to increase this volume to a trillion.

The head of the Emirates' Political Center, Ebtesam Al-Ketbi, told Izvestia that expanding trade and investment is seen as a way to strengthen strategic partnership with Washington. According to her, the United States remains the most important guarantor of security in the Persian Gulf region, and also offers opportunities that meet the long-term development goals of the region's states.

One of Trump's stops will be Qatar, the last visit of the head of the White House to this state took place in 2003. The current one is taking place against the backdrop of a strengthening defense partnership: in March, the State Department approved the sale of eight MQ-9B Reaper attack drones to Doha for $1.96 billion. In addition, according to the Axios portal, Qatar may conclude a deal with Boeing for the supply of civilian aircraft.

What issues will Trump discuss during the tour?

The issue of normalization of Saudi-Israeli relations remains a stumbling block. The Kingdom continues to insist on the establishment of a Palestinian State as a condition for normalizing relations with the Jewish State. Against this background, Trump's visit is seen more as a step towards interim agreements — Washington is ready to sign economic and technological agreements, leaving an opportunity to promote the "Abrahamic" agreements.

Humanitarian issues will also become an important element of the agenda. Qatar, along with Egypt, continues to mediate a cease-fire between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip. On the eve of the visit, the Qatari Foreign Ministry issued a joint statement with Cairo on the continuation of settlement efforts in coordination with the United States. This signal sounded immediately after the release of Israeli-American hostage Idan Alexander, captured by Hamas on October 7, 2023 and released on May 12.

It is noteworthy that the Palestinian leadership has intensified contacts with key Arab countries, primarily Saudi Arabia, in order to prevent unilateral decisions, especially in the context of possible Israeli plans to evict Palestinians and change the status of territories. Moreover, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on May 13 during a meeting with IDF reservists that the army would enter Gaza in the coming days "with all its might" until the complete defeat of Hamas.

The agenda of the talks may also include a discussion of the Ukrainian crisis. The Arab monarchies are considered one of the main intermediaries in this aspect. Trump had previously stated that he was considering visiting Istanbul on Thursday, May 15, after completing his tour. It is on this day that a meeting of representatives of Russia and Ukraine is planned, which was previously announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Later, the Reuters news agency reported that the talks in Turkey would be held with the participation of special envoy of the President of the United States Stephen Witkoff and special envoy for Ukraine Keith Kellogg.

The Russian leader suggested that Kiev resume direct talks in Turkey without preconditions. Saudi political analyst Mubarak Al-Aati noted that the Ukrainian conflict remains one of the key topics on the international agenda, and it is this issue that the United States and Saudi Arabia are paying serious attention to. According to him, the crisis is being actively discussed in both the Russian-American and American-Ukrainian formats, and it is possible that a significant breakthrough may be achieved during this historic visit.