"Investment deals took center stage on the first day of US President Donald Trump's visit to the Middle East, with geopolitical issues like Gaza taking a back seat."
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00:00Moving on into the report of the Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia and Middle East, investment deals dominated the first day of U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to the Middle East yesterday.
00:12As discussions progressed, the priorities of the Trump and Saudi administrations became apparent, and also Gaza and other geopolitical issues seeming to take a back seat.
00:23For more, we go to Luqman Harris from Riyadh.
00:27Indeed, expectations previously have been skewed, or rather the common belief is that geopolitical issues will dominate President Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia and the Middle East in this four days.
00:42But it soon became apparent that investments and the economy is the name of the game.
00:46That seems to be the main strategy and priority, not just for the U.S. administration, but also of Saudi Arabia.
00:53So, of course, we already know of the mega numbers, the big numbers, investment agreements that were announced.
01:00And we also knew previously that Saudi Arabia has pledged some $600 billion in investments into the U.S. over the course of the next four years.
01:09But Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Muhammad bin Salman, had a surprise announcement up his sleeve.
01:14And so the Saudis seem to have upped their game from $600 billion to $1 trillion of investments in the U.S. economy, or at least that's the pledge.
01:43As for Trump, in line with his image as the president of the economy, having put tremendous priority, a premium on the economy,
01:51and having campaigned widely and wildly on the economy throughout the campaign trail.
01:55To him, it's all about bringing back huge numbers to show to the American people in terms of the investments that he has successfully courted from all these Middle Eastern countries,
02:04in terms of how many jobs are going to be created in the American economy,
02:09and also how much investments that are about to be put in American manufacturers and American companies.
02:15So here's what Trump had to say.
02:16And he said, if you think $600 million, but for $600 million million will be $1 trillion, you'll try and get us there.
02:27And that would be great.
02:29You're working on that.
02:30That would be great.
02:31So I very much appreciate it.
02:32It's not like a final walk.
02:34Yeah, I very much appreciate it.
02:35We have, as you know, we have the biggest business leaders in the world here.
02:40And they're going to walk away with a lot of checks, a lot of things that you're going to provide.
02:46And in the United States, it's probably 2 million jobs that we're talking about this visit.
02:52So, number one, I like visiting with you, and we've known each other very well, and I really believe we like each other a lot.
03:00And number two, for the United States, we've brought tremendous investment in and tremendous jobs.
03:07And nowhere is this more apparent than the list of individuals accompanying Trump on this trip.
03:13Perhaps equal to the number of administration officials and also high-level cabinet officials accompanying the president,
03:19are top executives of some of the largest U.S. companies.
03:22The tech bros are also here.
03:24Elon Musk, of course.
03:25Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI.
03:28As well as the CEOs of BlackRock, IBM, Palantir.
03:32And so far, at least, the investment commitments seem to be mutual.
03:36Some of the biggest U.S. companies, Google, Oracle, Uber, are pledging to invest $80 billion in both the U.S. and also Saudi.
03:45Numerous American companies have pledged to invest up to $2 billion in infrastructure development projects
03:52like the King Salman International Airport, the King Salman Park in Saudi Arabia.
03:57But, of course, the headline-grabbing element was the weapons sales.
04:02Saudi, as part of the $1 trillion investment pledged into the U.S.,
04:06has also pledged to buy U.S.-made weapons worth $142 billion,
04:12said to be the largest arms sale in U.S. history.
04:16Now, the Saudis, already the biggest customer of U.S. arms,
04:20currently noting about $129 billion U.S. dollars of arms purchases from American companies,
04:28are upping the game even further.
04:31Here's what was said.
04:33And with this trip, we're adding over $1 trillion more in terms of investment
04:39and investment into our country and buying our products.
04:43And, you know, nobody makes military equipment like us.
04:47We have the best military equipment, the best missiles, the best rockets, the best everything,
04:51best submarines, by the way.
04:53And those are the words that best sum it all, larger ambitions.
05:21Perhaps bigger geopolitical issues are being discussed or are going to be discussed.
05:27The power play within the Middle East and in Asia and the Global South as a whole,
05:31new strategic partnerships in defence, military cooperation, etc.
05:35That's all on the table, of course.
05:37But what's clear at this juncture is that all those things,
05:40if they are indeed grander designs,
05:42they are to be achieved first and foremost by investment and economic partnerships,
05:47agreements and cooperations.
05:49So that has been the theme of Trump's first full day of visit to Saudi Arabia.
05:55Now, what's coming next is a visit to Qatar and also to the UAE, United Arab Emirates.
06:01Now, it's unclear whether the tone of the visit and discussions there will be different,
06:04whether it will be skewed more towards political and geopolitical issues and tensions
06:09and the so-called New World Order as a whole.
06:12But the signs are quite similar.
06:15UAE, for example, has already pledged the purchase of $1.4 billion worth of US-made weapons and also armaments.
06:26A similar theme is expected in Qatar.
06:29So, sure, there are bigger issues that will be discussed, that will be at play here.
06:34But what's for sure is that those are taking a position to the side.
06:39Those seem to be put on the back burner.
06:41For now, seems to be money talks.
06:44Back to you at the studio.