US announces more than $316.5 billion in deals with Qatar
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Qatar’s Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, welcoming US President Donald Trump upon his arrival in Doha on May 14.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
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QATAR – The White House said President Donald Trump had secured deals totalling more than US$243.5 billion (S$316.5 billion) with Qatar,
“The landmark deals celebrated today will drive innovation and prosperity for generations, bolster American manufacturing and technological leadership, and put America on the path to a new golden age,” the White House said on May 14.
The announcement came on the second leg of Mr Trump’s swing through the Middle East, a day after the President touted some US$600 billion in investments by Saudi Arabia in US manufacturing, products and services.
Mr Trump has focused much of his energy on the trip on securing investment dollars while praising Gulf states for seeking a deeper partnership with the US.
Mr Trump’s take so far has fallen short of his ambitions for an even bigger haul; the President had floated the possibility of securing US$1 trillion in investment pledges from Saudi companies and on May 13 said the two nations would work towards that goal.
Earlier on May 14, the White House announced that Qatar Airways had inked a US$96 billion plan to acquire as many as 210 Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 777X aircraft. The US cast the buy as the largest-ever wide-body order and the largest-ever for the 787s.
A critical focus of the partnership with Qatar is defence. The US and Qatari governments have signed off on a US$1 billion agreement for Raytheon, a major American defence contractor, to provide counter-drone capabilities to Qatar. The agreement would make Qatar the first international customer for Raytheon’s integrated defeat system designed to counter unmanned aircraft.
General Atomics secured a nearly US$2 billion agreement for Qatar to acquire MQ-9B drones, according to the White House. The two countries signed a statement of intent to bolster security partnerships that outlines more than US$28 billion in potential investments.
Despite its modest size, Qatar has taken on increasing importance for US security as well as Mr Trump’s ambitions to broker a Middle East peace deal between Israel and Hamas. It has also grown in stature for Mr Trump; key presidential allies to the President; and his family business, the Trump Organisation, which recently inked an agreement to develop a golf course, clubhouse and beachfront villas on its coast.
Qatar is home to the Al Udeid Air Base, the largest US military installation in the region. The sprawling complex serves as a logistics hub for the US Central Command and is set to host American troops for at least another decade, under an agreement reached in 2024. In 2022, former president Joe Biden named Qatar a major non-Nato ally for the US.
The White House also touted partnerships between McDermott International and Qatar Energy worth US$8.5 billion, as well as 30 projects worth up to US$97 billion for Parsons Corp.
Other partnerships highlighted by the White House include ventures between Quantinuum and Al Rabban Capital, which would invest up to US$1 billion in quantum technologies and workforce development in the US.
Like the other Gulf states that Mr Trump is visiting, Qatar has sought to strengthen its ties with the US – including through direct investment in the country. On May 15, Mr Trump is slated to visit Abu Dhabi. BLOOMBERG
