President Trump arrived Tuesday morning in Saudi Arabia, his first stop on a four -day tour through the Gulf, the first great trip abroad of his second term.
He left Air Force One at the Royal Terminal, a special section for VIP at the King Khalid International Airport in Riad, the Saudi capital. Trump was received by the heir prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the de facto ruler of the kingdom, on a lavender carpet deployed by the asphalt. An honor guard was in his place.
The presence of Prince Mohammed meant the special status that Mr. Trump enjoys with Saudi Arabia. When President Biden visited in 2022, after saying that he would make the kingdom a “outcast”, before realizing that he needed his help at the lowest prices of oil, the heir prince disagreed it, sending a relatively low classification delegation to the airport.
It is very unlikely that Mr. Trump feels disrespected on this trip, which will also include stops in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
On his flight to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, Air Force One was escorted during the last half an hour, Haudi F-15 combat aircraft, according to a White House pool report.
In this week’s Gulf, Trump will focus on signing businesses with the three countries, which manage billions of dollars in assets around the world. He has told the advisors to sign agreements worth more than $ 1 billion. The agreements are expected to include investments in artificial intelligence and energy production companies, as well as purchases of multimillion -dollar weapons from US manufacturers.
Prince Mohammed is expected to spend much of Tuesday with the president, who culminated at dinner. The Saudi real ones are expected to take off their 2017 plays book to attract Trump. Duration of that trip, the first as president, a multiple image of Mr. Trump’s face was projected on the Ritz -Carlton Hotel facade in Riyadh.
The president plans to speak Tuesday afternoon in an investment forum organized by the Saudi government. The Cryptographic Tsar of the White House, David Sacks and other US business leaders, including IBM executive directors, Blackrock, Citigroup, Palantir and Qualcomm, a semiconductor company, attend.
Prince Mohammed has already promised to invest $ 600 billion in the United States in the next four years, a number that economists say it is very unlikely to materialize as Saudi Graphy Arabia with a cash crunch. Emiratis have promised $ 1.4 billion in US investments in 10 years.
Trump plans to travel on Wednesday to Qatar and Thorsday to the Emirates, where he is expected to receive a similarly luxurious hospitality.
His trip to the three Gulf countries has been under intense scrutiny because he carefully tracks his family’s financial interests. The Trump family has six pending agreements with a majority real estate firm in Saudi, a cryptocurrency agreement with an affiliate from the United Arab Emirates government and a new project of Golf Villa and luxury backed by the Qatar government.
The Trump administration is also prepared to accept a luxury Boeing 747-8 as a donation from the Qatar Royal Family. Trump has asked the plane to be updated to serve as Air Force One while waiting for Boeing to deliver presidential planes for a long time.
Jatar Jet can end up being the greatest foreign gift ever received by the United States government. The discussion plan raises substantial ethical problems, especially since Trump could use the $ 400 million plane after leaving office. He has said he intends to collect it as a donation to his presidential library.
Pressing by journalists on Monday about the agreement, Trump insisted that he would not use the plane after his presidency and suggested that he retired as an exhibition in his library.
Maggie Haberman Contributed reports.
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