After major arms sales, Trump to visit Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar: What to know
The president is urging Gulf countries to increase their investment in the US after a series of bilateral economic and defense deals in recent months.
US President Donald Trump said on Monday evening that he will visit the Gulf for his first foreign trip, aiming to secure increased investment from the region in the American economy.
Trump confirmed to reporters in the Oval Office that he would visit Saudi Arabia, adding that he would also stop in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
“We’ll probably stop in UAE and Qatar … and then Saudi Arabia, the three of them,” said Trump. “And then we’ll go other places also, but in the Middle East those seem to be the three.”
The president said a major focus of the trip would be Gulf investment in the US, telling reporters that Saudi Arabia has agreed to "spend close to a trillion dollars" in US companies. The money would be spent on US firms that would in turn make unspecified “equipment” for Saudi and other Middle Eastern companies, according to Trump.
