Bahrain announces over $20b in US deals during Trump talks
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Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa (left) meeting US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on July 16.
PHOTO: EPA
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- Bahrain plans to invest over US$17 billion in the US, including a US$7 billion deal for Gulf Air to buy Boeing aircraft and GE engines.
- Bahrain will sign deals with Oracle and Cisco, replacing Chinese servers, and increase investments in US energy, tech, and manufacturing sectors.
- Bahrain and the US signed a memo advancing peaceful nuclear partnership, with further agreements expected during the King of Bahrain's visit.
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WASHINGTON - Bahrain’s crown prince announced on July 16 plans to invest more than US$17 billion (S$21.8 billion) in the United States at a meeting with President Donald Trump focused on trade, Iran and regional security issues.
Under the plan, Bahrain was expected to sign a deal valued at about US$7 billion for its national carrier, Gulf Air, to buy 12 Boeing aircraft with an option for six more and 40 General Electric engines, according to a White House official.
“We’re very happy to be announcing US$17 billion worth of deals that are coming to the United States,” said Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
“And this is real. These aren’t fake deals.”
The announcement from Prince Salman came during an Oval Office visit on the heels of foreign investment deals Mr Trump made during a trip to the Middle East
Sunni-ruled Bahrain is an important security partner of the United States, hosting the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet. It established ties with Israel in 2020 under the US-brokered Abraham Accords, driven in part by shared concerns over Shiite-majority Iran.
Bahrain’s exports face a 10 per cent baseline tariff
Mr Trump said the two men would privately discuss Iran, which is under pressure to resume nuclear talks with the US as Washington and three major European countries have agreed to set the end of August as the deadline for a deal.
Israel and the US launched strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities
The US official said the new Bahrain deal will support 30,000 American jobs and was secured with help from Mr Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Bahrain is expected to sign deals with Oracle and Cisco, with plans to replace Chinese servers with Cisco products, the official said.
Bahrain also seeks to increase its investments in US energy, tech, and manufacturing sectors.
The official said the crown prince intends to deploy capital to increase US domestic aluminium production, invest in US LNG production to secure energy supplies and purchase cutting-edge AI chips, partnering with US hyperscalers.
During the visit, the crown prince signed various deals and memoranda of understanding confirming those arrangements. One of these memos seeks to advance peaceful nuclear partnership between Bahrain and the US. It was signed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani during a State Department visit before the Oval Office meeting.
Later this year, the king of Bahrain will visit Washington to finalise these agreements and solidify the progress made in building the two nations’ economic prosperity, the US official said. REUTERS
