Trump’s Gulf tour is all about business
President Trump has always viewed the presidency as a worldwide hunt for deals. Today, as he is set to begin a four-day swing through Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, Trump has told his advisers that he wanted to announce deals worth more than $1 trillion.
In place of any grand strategy will be a series of financial transactions that Trump will promote as producers of jobs for American workers. He is pushing Saudi leaders to invest $1 trillion in the U.S., a sum that economists say is unrealistic because it is equivalent to the country’s entire annual gross domestic product.
Trump’s agenda conveniently aligns with his expanding business plans. His family has six deals pending with a majority Saudi-owned real estate firm, a cryptocurrency deal with a U.A.E. affiliate and a new golf and luxury villa project backed by Qatar.
A questionable gift: The Qatari royal family is going to great lengths to court Trump, offering as a donation a luxury Boeing 747-8 plane that will be upgraded to serve as Air Force One. Trump angrily brushed off ethical concerns about the gift yesterday, saying that only someone “stupid” would turn down such an offer.
Gaza: Hamas yesterday released Edan Alexander, the last living U.S. hostage it held in Gaza, portraying the gesture as an attempt to secure U.S. backing for a deal to end the war.
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