Trump announces $260b in deals during UAE visit, AI agreement signed

ABU DHABI - President Donald Trump on May 15 pledged to strengthen US ties to the United Arab Emirates and announced deals with the Gulf state totalling over US$200 billion (S$260 billion), while the two countries also agreed to deepen cooperation in artificial intelligence.

After Mr Trump’s meeting with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the White House said he announced deals that included a US$14.5 billion commitment from Etihad Airways to invest in 28 Boeing 787 and 777x aircraft powered by engines made by GE Aerospace.

The US Commerce Department said the two countries also agreed to establish a “US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership” framework, and Mr Trump and Sheikh Mohamed attended the unveiling of a new 5GW AI campus, which would be the largest outside the United States.

Sources have said the agreements will give the Gulf country expanded access to advanced artificial intelligence chips from the US after previously facing restrictions over Washington’s concerns that China could access the technology.

Mr Trump began a visit to the UAE on the latest stage of a tour of wealthy Gulf states after hailing

plans by Doha to invest US$10 billion

in a US military facility during a trip to Qatar.

“I have absolutely no doubt that the relationship will only get bigger and better,” Mr Trump said, in a meeting with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

“Your wonderful brother came to Washington a few weeks ago and he told us about your generous statement as to the 1.4 trillion,” Mr Trump said, referring to a UAE pledge to invest US$1.4 trillion in the US over 10 years.

Mr Trump was referring to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Sheikh Mohamed’s brother and the UAE’s national security adviser and chairman of two of Abu Dhabi’s deep-pocketed sovereign wealth funds.

The US president was met at the airport in Abu Dhabi by Sheikh Mohamed, and they visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, its white minarets and domes, impressive in the late-afternoon light.

“It is so beautiful,” Mr Trump told reporters inside the mosque, which he said had been closed for the day.

“First time they closed it. It’s in honour of the United States. Better than in honour of me. Let’s give it to the country. That’s a great tribute.”

New deals

A White House fact sheet said Mr Trump had secured US$200 billion in new US-UAE deals and had accelerated the previously committed US$1.4 trillion.

It said Emirates Global Aluminum would invest to develop a US$4 billion primary aluminum smelter project in Oklahoma, while ExxonMobil, Occidental Petroleum, and EOG Resources were partnering with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in expanded oil and natural gas production valued at US$60 billion.

Sheikh Mohamed told Mr Trump the UAE was “keen to continue and strengthen this friendship for the benefit of the two countries and peoples,” adding to Mr Trump: “your presence here today, your excellency, the president, confirms that this keenness is mutual.”

Before his departure for the UAE, Mr Trump said in a speech to US troops at the Al Udeid Air Base south-west of Doha that defence purchases signed by Qatar on May 14 were worth US$42 billion.

The UAE has been seeking US help to make the wealthy Gulf nation a global leader in artificial intelligence.

The US has a preliminary agreement with the UAE to allow it to import 500,000 of Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips a year, starting this year, Reuters reported on May 13.

The deal would boost the UAE’s construction of data centres vital to developing AI models, although the agreement has provoked national security concerns among sectors of the US government.

The AI agreement “includes the UAE committing to invest in, build, or finance US data centres that are at least as large and as powerful as those in the UAE,” the White House said.

“The agreement also contains historic commitments by the UAE to further align their national security regulations with the United States, including strong protections to prevent the diversion of US-origin technology.”

Former US president Joe Biden’s administration had imposed strict oversight of exports of US AI chips to the Middle East and other regions. Among Mr Biden’s fears were that the prized semiconductors would be diverted to China to buttress its military strength.

At the UAE presidential palace, Mr Trump and Sheikh Mohamed could be seen in TV footage in conversation with Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang.

Mr Trump said he would probably return to Washington on May 16 after a regional trip that began on May 13, although he said it was “almost destination unknown.” Mr Trump had hinted he could stop in Istanbul for talks on Ukraine.

Deals, diplomacy

Other big business agreements have been signed during Mr Trump’s four-day swing through the Gulf region, including a deal for Qatar Airways to purchase up to 210 Boeing widebody jets, a US$600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the US and US$142 billion in US arms sales to the kingdom.

The trip has also brought a flurry of diplomacy.

Mr Trump said in Qatar that the United States was getting very close to securing a nuclear deal with Iran, and Tehran had “sort of” agreed to the terms.

He also announced on May 13 the US would

remove longstanding sanctions on Syria

and subsequently met with Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa.

He urged Mr Sharaa to establish ties with Syria’s longtime foe Israel.

Mr Trump has made improving ties with some Gulf countries a key goal of his administration. If all the proposed chip deals in Gulf states, and the UAE in particular, come together, the region would become a third power centre in global AI competition after the US and China. REUTERS