Trump brokers $200B investment deal with UAE

President Donald Trump said he’d made over $200 billion worth of investment deals on Thursday while meeting with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Al Nahyan also presented Trump with the country’s highest civilian honor, the Order of Zayed, and praised Trump for significantly bolstering the two countries’ economic partnership, namely in the energy and artificial intelligence sectors.

What kind of new agreements did Trump make with the UAE?

• Boeing and GE Aerospace received a nearly $15 billion promise from Etihad Airways to invest in over two dozen American-made Boeing aircraft with GE engines.

• Emirates Global Aluminum promised to develop a $4 billion primary aluminum smelter project in Oklahoma, expected to be one of the first new aluminum smelters in the United States in nearly 50 years.

• ExxonMobil, Occidental Petroleum, and EOG Resources planned to partner with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company to expand oil and natural gas production. The project has a projected value of $60 billion and aims to lower energy costs and create skilled jobs in both countries, the White House reported.

• Military contractor RTX will partner with Emirates Global Aluminum and the UAE’s Tawazun Council on a project involving the metal gallium that the White House says will stabilize the United States’ critical mineral supply chain.

The UAE committed in March to investing $1.4 trillion in the United States over the next 10 years, specifically for AI infrastructure, semiconductors, energy, quantum computing, biotechnology, and manufacturing. These agreements strengthen the American-UAE relationship while also ensuring U.S. security interests and dominance in AI, the White House said. The visit brought the total investment agreements made between the United States and Gulf countries to over $2 trillion, the White House reported Thursday.

The president made a swath of economic agreements during his three-day tour of the Middle East. Trump first visited Saudi Arabia on Tuesday and signed a historic $142 billion arms deal while meeting with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The president then brokered over $243 billion in economic deals while meeting with Qatari leaders on Wednesday, including a large sale of Boeing aircraft and GE Aerospace engines.

Dig deeper: Read my report on Disney investing in the UAE with its plan to build its next Disneyland park in Abu Dhabi.