May 15, 2025 • 17 mins
President Trump is wrapping a whirlwind trip to the Middle East — complete with a flurry of proposed investment deals , controversial gifts and a major shift in US-Syria policy.
On today’s Big Take podcast, Bloomberg’s Joumanna Bercetche joins host David Gura to unpack the biggest headlines from the president’s tour of the Persian Gulf and discuss what they tell us about his larger plans for the region.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
President Trump is wrapping up the first major overseas trip
of his second term. He visited Saudi Arabia, Cutter, and
the United Arab Emirates. The President has used those visits
to showcase his affection for making deals. The White House
claims those three Gulf nations have made more than a
(00:29):
trillion dollars in new economic commitments to the United States.
President Trump has also surprised world leaders on the trip
by deciding to lift sanctions on Syria and by having
a face to face meeting with that country's interim president,
someone who was previously an al Qaeda commander who had
a ten million dollar bounty on his head.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
As I've shown repeatedly, I am willing to end past
conflicts and forge new partnerships for better and more stable world.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
The UAE, Cutter and Saudi Arabia have rolled out the
red carpet for Trump. There have been extravagant welcome ceremonies.
Bloomberg's Jermani Borsecci, was in Saudi Arabia for the first
stop on the president's trip.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
There is a sense of you have to greet your
guests with respect, and obviously you're going to treat the
individual who holds the highest office in the United States
with the utmost respect, and so it was also an
opportunity for them to pull out all the stops.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
F fifteen fighter jets have escorted Air Force one Arabian
horses trotted alongside the President's motorcade.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
The Crown Prince Nbs himself personally greeted President Trump, breaking
with protocol similar for the Emir of Qatar, even small
touches in Katar, he had cyber trucks that was a
nods at elon Musk obviously sort of circuiting his convoy
as he made it into the center of town. And
then these lavish banquets and ornate palaces, the gold, the marble,
(01:52):
and all of that would have gone down very well
with President Trump.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
I'm David Gerret and this is the big take from
Bloomberg News today on the show, President Trump's four day
trip to the Middle East, the deals He's done and
says he's done, and Trump's plans to reshape the region.
So this is President Trump's first major trip overseas in
his second term. Why did he decide to go to
(02:22):
the golf help US understand the significance of that decision.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
This was very significant for the golf countries. Countries like Qatar,
the last time they received a visit from the US
President was back in two thousand and three. In the
case of UAE, it was two thousand and eight, and
for Saudi Arabia, of course, it was twenty twenty two
when Joe Biden came to visit and that was quite
a contentious meeting. In the case of President Trump, there
(02:46):
is a lot of goodwill towards the region, and I
think from his perspective, he sendsed it as an opportunity
to make deals, to forge further economic ties, but also,
and this is the diplomatic angle, to take advantage of
the fact that Iran is on the back foot and
maybe re establish a regional presence alongside US's allies in
(03:09):
the golf and those include the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Katar.
From the golf country's perspective, For the Crown Prince NBS, obviously,
this is a huge rehabilitation for him. He sort of
weathered the storm of Jamal Kajokshi for a while was
seen as a global pereia and in the past eight years,
the country has undergone both the social and economic transformation,
(03:29):
and this was Saudi Arabia's opportunity to showcase to the
world what they've been doing with this Saudi vision.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Let's start with the deals and the headline numbers. See
massive So a six hundred billion dollar deal from Saudi
Arabia deals with Cutter valued at more than two hundred
billion dollars in talk of a broader economic package to
the tune of one point two trillion dollars. How much
of this is real? How much of this is sort
of newly signed deals versus agreements in principle?
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Six hundred billion dollars was the headline figure that the
White House put out after that bilateral meeting that took
place between the Crown Prince and President Trump. Later on,
Crown Prince MBS in a speech said that they're working
to increase that figure to one trillion dollars of actual deals,
though from what we understand, the nominal amount was three
hundred billion dollars, and a lot of that was announced
(04:16):
at this Saudi US Business forum that was being held
in parallel. So many CEOs and industry leaders at City
CEO Jane Fraser you had Black Rock CEO Larry Fink,
you had Jensen Huang from Navidia. Those individuals all descended
on Riot for that conference, and on the back of
that we did get some signature deals. One of them
is the largest defense deal in history per the White House, again,
(04:38):
a one hundred and forty two billion dollar defense package
in which Saudi Arabia has committed to buying arms from
the United States. Also a lot of energy at MOUs
Aramco doing about eighty billion dollars worth of partnerships with
US companies. You had that big headline figure of one
point two trillion dollars that was quote unquote economic agreement,
(05:00):
but actually in terms of what is firm, we understand
that number to be closer to around two hundred and
forty billion dollars, of which and again another record breaking figure,
because President Chump likes the record breaking numbers cuts, Our
Airways has placed a firm order for up to two
hundred and ten Boeing jets and that amounts to about
ninety six billion dollars in nominal value. That is the
(05:22):
largest order that Boeing has ever received.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Well, let's talk about artificial intelligence. As you mentioned Jensen Kawanga.
Nvidia was there. We saw the US relax restrictions that
were put in place when President Biden was in the
White House. What is that going to mean in real
terms for companies like in Nvidia having those requirements relaxed
and also these new deals that have been broken when
it comes to AI chips.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Well analysts in this space. We spoke to Dan ives
some wet Bush. He thinks this is an absolute game changer,
and the fact that these US chip makers are getting
access to the Middle East, to these Gulf countries that
have huge AI ambitions, that have the money to spend
on investing data centers, actually opens up a new market
to them, and you've seen that in the price action
(06:05):
with some of these chip stocks this week. But I
think the bigger noteworthy point to flag here is that
the Trump administration is breaking with the Biden administration's diffusion rules.
And what they decided was that these rules were too
bureaucratic and that there were smarter ways to control the
distribution of US chips, those high tech chips, but in
(06:28):
a way that doesn't one hinder US's competitiveness on a
global scale and two send their allies into the arms
of Chinese technology, and so this is why in advance
of this trip there was talk about the US weltering
down those rules, and that's exactly what we're seeing.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
I want to ask you about the role that low
oil prices are playing in motivating the kind of deals
that we saw broker over the course of these last
few days. So I know that Saudi Arabia has driven
down oil prices to about sixty dollars a barrel, that
of course stands to hurt the South the economy. Why
is the crown prints of Saudi Arabia doing that? And
how much pain can Saudi Arabia endure with oil prices
(07:07):
as low as they are?
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Okay, this is a really good question because when I
put that question to the Saudi Finance minister, he says,
the whole purpose is to diversify our economy, our singular
dependence on one hydrocarbon into other parts of the economy.
And if you look at the numbers today, about fifty
percent of Saudi's economy is still hydrocarbon reliant.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
The rest comes from.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Non the non oil sector, which tends to be a
fast growing sector and which also is the reason that
so many of those investment firms are finding opportunities investment
opportunities in Saudi Arabia right now. That being said, Saudi
Arabia is missing on the annual FDI targets that they're setting.
And this is the reason why it was actually the
Ministry of Investment that organized that Saudi US Business summit
(07:52):
because they want to attract more FDI into the country.
Now when it comes to oil, yes, the fiscal break
even level is somewhere closer to ninety dollars, it's not
sixty and so in that situation, they are going to
run budget deficits.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
And there are two ways that you can do that.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
You can either borrow more, which is what Saudi Arabia
ha been doing, or you can spend less. And what
has been happening in the past year is what they
would say is a reprioritization of spending on these mega
projects that you hear about, and that investment will have
to go into more productive capacities.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
But ultimately this.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Just means Saudi Arabia has gone from a position of
being able.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
To splash out cash all over the world.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
To actually being a country that wants to direct investment inwards.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
After the break President Trump's broader strategic goals for the region,
plus what his meeting with serious interim president could mean
for the US's relationship with Israel. So let's turn to
cut her down. This was the president's second stop on
(08:58):
this trip, and the White House says it's cured more
than two hundred and forty three billion dollars worth of
deals there Cutter Airways as it's going to buy more
than two hundred planes from Boeing. What does that agreement
tell us about Cutter's priorities in the region and in
the world more broadly.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Cutter's priorities are twofold.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Number one is also similar to Saudi Arabia, to project
this image of a place where business can be done,
of becoming another financial capital of the world. They've also
been massively promoting tourism. If you look at their tourism numbers,
they will tell you that the numbers are up. They
got five million tourist last year. And so part of
this is wanting to put Kutar on the map and
(09:35):
for people to perceive them to be more than just
an LNG exporter, which is what they're known for. But
of course there's a diplomatic prerogative there and Cutter have
played a huge role in regional diplomacy when it comes
to speaking with Iran and its proxies, negotiating with Hamas
with the release of the hostages, and so for them
(09:56):
it is both economic and political.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I mentioned Boeing, and let me stick with Boeing for
a moment here, because there has been so much conversation
in the United States about Cutter's offer of a Boeing
seven forty seven for the President of the United States
to use as air Force one. We've also seen headlines
about the Trump famili's real estate investments in the Middle East.
There are kind of swirling around this trip, a lot
of questions about conflicts of interest and potential conflicts of interest.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
So let me just talk about that jets or what
people are calling a flying palace. So this was supposedly
going to be a gift from the royal family, nothing
to do with Kutar Airways. But once the story broke
a lot of controversy. The Qataris are saying that it's
still under review.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
It's unclear.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
President Chump on his part, is saying that this was
a government to government agreement. If it does go ahead,
and that it would be eventually given to the Ministry
of Defense or the Pentagon.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
But ultimately it does raise a lot.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Of questions about the legality the ethics of the US
president receiving such a monument gift from a foreign government. Equally,
a lot of people have been talking about the fact
that Trump Organization, which he has of course stepped away
from in terms of running the day to day, they've
also been in the region in the last few weeks,
(11:13):
whether it's inking crypto deals in the UAE, or setting
up Trump towers in Dubai, in Jeddah along the Red
Sea the coast of Saudi Arabia, or even in Doha
with plans to open up new golf courses. So there
are business deals that are being struck with the Trump organization.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
We've talked a lot about the deals brokeer do on
this trip, the economic underpinnings of this trip. I want
to ask you about the president's kind of broader strategic goals.
And there was this extraordinary moment where you had the
Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia with President Trump and serious
interim President. Help us understand the significance of that meeting
taking place of a US president sitting down with somebody
(11:54):
who was once linked to al Qaeda and was on
most wanted lists here in the US.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Honestly, it was quite unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
It was really a historic moment, and probably the moment
from this trip to witness those three standing side by side.
It would have been inconceivable to think that that picture
would have taken place six months ago, as you were
getting towards the end of the assad regime. And even
the fact that Syrian president, again rehabilitated president because he
was once a Shihadi fighter, was standing next to the
(12:22):
US president alongside the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, and
it just tells you that the bigger picture here is
what I referenced at the beginning, which is that the
US administration and GCC countries Saudi Arabia sends an opportunity
here to reshape the power dynamics in the Middle East.
(12:43):
For so long Syria was under the stronghold of Iran,
Lebanon became increasingly under the stronghold of Iran via Hezbalah,
and now many months later they're all on the back foot.
The Assid regime is gone, has a severely diminished Hamas
is severely diminished, and therefore it is an opportunity for
(13:03):
Saudi Arabia to exert its influence in the region and
for the US to ensure that its allies in the
GCC are the ones who are going to have further
an increasing amount of diplomatic leverage. So that is the
reason that President Trump came out with this big announcement
in Saudi Arabia about the removal of possible removal of
Syrian sanctions. And he also credited Coronference NBS and by
(13:25):
the way, Turkish President Arduwan forgetting him to make that decision.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Israel opposes this, and this is kind of where I
want to end our conversation. Because President Trump is in
the neighborhood, he very easily could have stopped in Israel
on this trip. He's not doing that. What does that
say to you about his broader strategic priorities at this
point that he is not making a stop to visit
one of the US's most long standing allies in the region.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
People are perceiving it to be a slight or a
snub towards the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanna, who appears
on some topics. There's a bit of daylight between the two,
not least because one week before or President Trump's trip
to the region, he sort of announced without anyone expecting,
that there had been a truce agreed to between the
US and Heaths and that the Houthies would no longer
(14:11):
continue with their attacks on ships passing through the Red Sea.
But by the way, Israel were not consulted on that. Similarly,
the release of American Israeli hostage Isn Alexander one day
before he came to the region. That was also negotiated
via Kutar, but again with not a lot of Israel involvement.
At the same time, the Israeli Prime Minister and his
(14:32):
government have talked about pressing on and restarting operations in
Gaza in a more intensified manner, but they have seemingly
stole the decision to push further into the Gaza Strip
while President Trump is in the region continuing with his tour.
So one of the big questions here, and I would
(14:53):
say just to end this, that there hasn't been a
lot of talk about the CES far in Gaza. There
was one comment that Present made during his speech in
Saudi Arabia, where he said Palestinians deserve a better future,
but then point to the blame at their own leaders
for getting them to the situation that they're in right now,
but nothing beyond that. So it's still a very delicate
moment when it comes to the war in Gaza, and indeed,
(15:17):
how Israel is going to be reacting to all of
the developments that came through in the last few days.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Jimani, you were covering this hour by hour, and the
President did lay out in speech as a kind of
grander vision for how he wants things to unfold, what
he wants the Middle East to look like. Could you
just synthesize that for us and maybe give us some
indication of what he's thinking when it comes to Iran.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
I think he said at.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
One point in that speech, and by the way, I
was in the room when he was speaking in Saudi Arabia.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
It is quite a long speech, but one.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Point he did say, I don't like war, I don't
want war, I want peace.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
I want to deal with Iran.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
But ultimately he wants to cut a deal with Iran, which,
by the way, they'll probably end up in a city
situation where the US Iran new nuclear deal will be
very similar to the JCPOA deal that Obama put in
place back in twenty fifteen, which President Chump famously pulled
out of in his first term. Ultimately, I think he
(16:15):
sees an economic opportunity in this region. These sovereign wealth
funds are sitting on trillions of dollars worth of potential
capital to deploy. He's a deal maker, he likes doing deals,
and I would say he also likes accolades, and probably
at the back of his mind, because it's President Chump,
he's hoping and angling for one day to get the
(16:36):
Nobel Peace Prize.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Jamia, thank you very much, Thank you. This is the
Big take from Bloomberg News. I'm David Gera. This episode
was produced by Our deputy executive producer Julia Weaver, with
help from Julia Press and Rachel Lewis Chrisky, who also
fact checked in. This episode was edited by Patty Hirsch
and Wendy Benjaminson and mixed and sound designed by Alex Sagura.
(17:00):
Senior producer is Naomi Shaven, Our senior editor is Elizabeth Ponso.
Our executive producer is Nicole Beemster Boor Sage Bauman is
Bloomberg's head of podcasts. If you liked this episode, make
sure to subscribe and review The Big Take wherever you
listen to podcasts. It helps people find the show. Thanks
for listening. We'll be back tomorrow
Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
President Trump is wrapping up the first major overseas trip
of his second term. He visited Saudi Arabia, Cutter, and
the United Arab Emirates. The President has used those visits
to showcase his affection for making deals. The White House
claims those three Gulf nations have made more than a
(00:29):
trillion dollars in new economic commitments to the United States.
President Trump has also surprised world leaders on the trip
by deciding to lift sanctions on Syria and by having
a face to face meeting with that country's interim president,
someone who was previously an al Qaeda commander who had
a ten million dollar bounty on his head.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
As I've shown repeatedly, I am willing to end past
conflicts and forge new partnerships for better and more stable world.
Speaker 2 (00:57):
The UAE, Cutter and Saudi Arabia have rolled out the
red carpet for Trump. There have been extravagant welcome ceremonies.
Bloomberg's Jermani Borsecci, was in Saudi Arabia for the first
stop on the president's trip.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
There is a sense of you have to greet your
guests with respect, and obviously you're going to treat the
individual who holds the highest office in the United States
with the utmost respect, and so it was also an
opportunity for them to pull out all the stops.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
F fifteen fighter jets have escorted Air Force one Arabian
horses trotted alongside the President's motorcade.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
The Crown Prince Nbs himself personally greeted President Trump, breaking
with protocol similar for the Emir of Qatar, even small
touches in Katar, he had cyber trucks that was a
nods at elon Musk obviously sort of circuiting his convoy
as he made it into the center of town. And
then these lavish banquets and ornate palaces, the gold, the marble,
(01:52):
and all of that would have gone down very well
with President Trump.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
I'm David Gerret and this is the big take from
Bloomberg News today on the show, President Trump's four day
trip to the Middle East, the deals He's done and
says he's done, and Trump's plans to reshape the region.
So this is President Trump's first major trip overseas in
his second term. Why did he decide to go to
(02:22):
the golf help US understand the significance of that decision.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
This was very significant for the golf countries. Countries like Qatar,
the last time they received a visit from the US
President was back in two thousand and three. In the
case of UAE, it was two thousand and eight, and
for Saudi Arabia, of course, it was twenty twenty two
when Joe Biden came to visit and that was quite
a contentious meeting. In the case of President Trump, there
(02:46):
is a lot of goodwill towards the region, and I
think from his perspective, he sendsed it as an opportunity
to make deals, to forge further economic ties, but also,
and this is the diplomatic angle, to take advantage of
the fact that Iran is on the back foot and
maybe re establish a regional presence alongside US's allies in
(03:09):
the golf and those include the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Katar.
From the golf country's perspective, For the Crown Prince NBS, obviously,
this is a huge rehabilitation for him. He sort of
weathered the storm of Jamal Kajokshi for a while was
seen as a global pereia and in the past eight years,
the country has undergone both the social and economic transformation,
(03:29):
and this was Saudi Arabia's opportunity to showcase to the
world what they've been doing with this Saudi vision.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Let's start with the deals and the headline numbers. See
massive So a six hundred billion dollar deal from Saudi
Arabia deals with Cutter valued at more than two hundred
billion dollars in talk of a broader economic package to
the tune of one point two trillion dollars. How much
of this is real? How much of this is sort
of newly signed deals versus agreements in principle?
Speaker 3 (03:55):
Six hundred billion dollars was the headline figure that the
White House put out after that bilateral meeting that took
place between the Crown Prince and President Trump. Later on,
Crown Prince MBS in a speech said that they're working
to increase that figure to one trillion dollars of actual deals,
though from what we understand, the nominal amount was three
hundred billion dollars, and a lot of that was announced
(04:16):
at this Saudi US Business forum that was being held
in parallel. So many CEOs and industry leaders at City
CEO Jane Fraser you had Black Rock CEO Larry Fink,
you had Jensen Huang from Navidia. Those individuals all descended
on Riot for that conference, and on the back of
that we did get some signature deals. One of them
is the largest defense deal in history per the White House, again,
(04:38):
a one hundred and forty two billion dollar defense package
in which Saudi Arabia has committed to buying arms from
the United States. Also a lot of energy at MOUs
Aramco doing about eighty billion dollars worth of partnerships with
US companies. You had that big headline figure of one
point two trillion dollars that was quote unquote economic agreement,
(05:00):
but actually in terms of what is firm, we understand
that number to be closer to around two hundred and
forty billion dollars, of which and again another record breaking figure,
because President Chump likes the record breaking numbers cuts, Our
Airways has placed a firm order for up to two
hundred and ten Boeing jets and that amounts to about
ninety six billion dollars in nominal value. That is the
(05:22):
largest order that Boeing has ever received.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Well, let's talk about artificial intelligence. As you mentioned Jensen Kawanga.
Nvidia was there. We saw the US relax restrictions that
were put in place when President Biden was in the
White House. What is that going to mean in real
terms for companies like in Nvidia having those requirements relaxed
and also these new deals that have been broken when
it comes to AI chips.
Speaker 3 (05:44):
Well analysts in this space. We spoke to Dan ives
some wet Bush. He thinks this is an absolute game changer,
and the fact that these US chip makers are getting
access to the Middle East, to these Gulf countries that
have huge AI ambitions, that have the money to spend
on investing data centers, actually opens up a new market
to them, and you've seen that in the price action
(06:05):
with some of these chip stocks this week. But I
think the bigger noteworthy point to flag here is that
the Trump administration is breaking with the Biden administration's diffusion rules.
And what they decided was that these rules were too
bureaucratic and that there were smarter ways to control the
distribution of US chips, those high tech chips, but in
(06:28):
a way that doesn't one hinder US's competitiveness on a
global scale and two send their allies into the arms
of Chinese technology, and so this is why in advance
of this trip there was talk about the US weltering
down those rules, and that's exactly what we're seeing.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
I want to ask you about the role that low
oil prices are playing in motivating the kind of deals
that we saw broker over the course of these last
few days. So I know that Saudi Arabia has driven
down oil prices to about sixty dollars a barrel, that
of course stands to hurt the South the economy. Why
is the crown prints of Saudi Arabia doing that? And
how much pain can Saudi Arabia endure with oil prices
(07:07):
as low as they are?
Speaker 3 (07:08):
Okay, this is a really good question because when I
put that question to the Saudi Finance minister, he says,
the whole purpose is to diversify our economy, our singular
dependence on one hydrocarbon into other parts of the economy.
And if you look at the numbers today, about fifty
percent of Saudi's economy is still hydrocarbon reliant.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
The rest comes from.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
Non the non oil sector, which tends to be a
fast growing sector and which also is the reason that
so many of those investment firms are finding opportunities investment
opportunities in Saudi Arabia right now. That being said, Saudi
Arabia is missing on the annual FDI targets that they're setting.
And this is the reason why it was actually the
Ministry of Investment that organized that Saudi US Business summit
(07:52):
because they want to attract more FDI into the country.
Now when it comes to oil, yes, the fiscal break
even level is somewhere closer to ninety dollars, it's not
sixty and so in that situation, they are going to
run budget deficits.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
And there are two ways that you can do that.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
You can either borrow more, which is what Saudi Arabia
ha been doing, or you can spend less. And what
has been happening in the past year is what they
would say is a reprioritization of spending on these mega
projects that you hear about, and that investment will have
to go into more productive capacities.
Speaker 1 (08:22):
But ultimately this.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
Just means Saudi Arabia has gone from a position of
being able.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
To splash out cash all over the world.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
To actually being a country that wants to direct investment inwards.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
After the break President Trump's broader strategic goals for the region,
plus what his meeting with serious interim president could mean
for the US's relationship with Israel. So let's turn to
cut her down. This was the president's second stop on
(08:58):
this trip, and the White House says it's cured more
than two hundred and forty three billion dollars worth of
deals there Cutter Airways as it's going to buy more
than two hundred planes from Boeing. What does that agreement
tell us about Cutter's priorities in the region and in
the world more broadly.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
Cutter's priorities are twofold.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Number one is also similar to Saudi Arabia, to project
this image of a place where business can be done,
of becoming another financial capital of the world. They've also
been massively promoting tourism. If you look at their tourism numbers,
they will tell you that the numbers are up. They
got five million tourist last year. And so part of
this is wanting to put Kutar on the map and
(09:35):
for people to perceive them to be more than just
an LNG exporter, which is what they're known for. But
of course there's a diplomatic prerogative there and Cutter have
played a huge role in regional diplomacy when it comes
to speaking with Iran and its proxies, negotiating with Hamas
with the release of the hostages, and so for them
(09:56):
it is both economic and political.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
I mentioned Boeing, and let me stick with Boeing for
a moment here, because there has been so much conversation
in the United States about Cutter's offer of a Boeing
seven forty seven for the President of the United States
to use as air Force one. We've also seen headlines
about the Trump famili's real estate investments in the Middle East.
There are kind of swirling around this trip, a lot
of questions about conflicts of interest and potential conflicts of interest.
Speaker 3 (10:23):
So let me just talk about that jets or what
people are calling a flying palace. So this was supposedly
going to be a gift from the royal family, nothing
to do with Kutar Airways. But once the story broke
a lot of controversy. The Qataris are saying that it's
still under review.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
It's unclear.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
President Chump on his part, is saying that this was
a government to government agreement. If it does go ahead,
and that it would be eventually given to the Ministry
of Defense or the Pentagon.
Speaker 1 (10:51):
But ultimately it does raise a lot.
Speaker 3 (10:53):
Of questions about the legality the ethics of the US
president receiving such a monument gift from a foreign government. Equally,
a lot of people have been talking about the fact
that Trump Organization, which he has of course stepped away
from in terms of running the day to day, they've
also been in the region in the last few weeks,
(11:13):
whether it's inking crypto deals in the UAE, or setting
up Trump towers in Dubai, in Jeddah along the Red
Sea the coast of Saudi Arabia, or even in Doha
with plans to open up new golf courses. So there
are business deals that are being struck with the Trump organization.
Speaker 2 (11:32):
We've talked a lot about the deals brokeer do on
this trip, the economic underpinnings of this trip. I want
to ask you about the president's kind of broader strategic goals.
And there was this extraordinary moment where you had the
Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia with President Trump and serious
interim President. Help us understand the significance of that meeting
taking place of a US president sitting down with somebody
(11:54):
who was once linked to al Qaeda and was on
most wanted lists here in the US.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
Honestly, it was quite unbelievable.
Speaker 3 (12:01):
It was really a historic moment, and probably the moment
from this trip to witness those three standing side by side.
It would have been inconceivable to think that that picture
would have taken place six months ago, as you were
getting towards the end of the assad regime. And even
the fact that Syrian president, again rehabilitated president because he
was once a Shihadi fighter, was standing next to the
(12:22):
US president alongside the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, and
it just tells you that the bigger picture here is
what I referenced at the beginning, which is that the
US administration and GCC countries Saudi Arabia sends an opportunity
here to reshape the power dynamics in the Middle East.
(12:43):
For so long Syria was under the stronghold of Iran,
Lebanon became increasingly under the stronghold of Iran via Hezbalah,
and now many months later they're all on the back foot.
The Assid regime is gone, has a severely diminished Hamas
is severely diminished, and therefore it is an opportunity for
(13:03):
Saudi Arabia to exert its influence in the region and
for the US to ensure that its allies in the
GCC are the ones who are going to have further
an increasing amount of diplomatic leverage. So that is the
reason that President Trump came out with this big announcement
in Saudi Arabia about the removal of possible removal of
Syrian sanctions. And he also credited Coronference NBS and by
(13:25):
the way, Turkish President Arduwan forgetting him to make that decision.
Speaker 2 (13:29):
Israel opposes this, and this is kind of where I
want to end our conversation. Because President Trump is in
the neighborhood, he very easily could have stopped in Israel
on this trip. He's not doing that. What does that
say to you about his broader strategic priorities at this
point that he is not making a stop to visit
one of the US's most long standing allies in the region.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
People are perceiving it to be a slight or a
snub towards the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanna, who appears
on some topics. There's a bit of daylight between the two,
not least because one week before or President Trump's trip
to the region, he sort of announced without anyone expecting,
that there had been a truce agreed to between the
US and Heaths and that the Houthies would no longer
(14:11):
continue with their attacks on ships passing through the Red Sea.
But by the way, Israel were not consulted on that. Similarly,
the release of American Israeli hostage Isn Alexander one day
before he came to the region. That was also negotiated
via Kutar, but again with not a lot of Israel involvement.
At the same time, the Israeli Prime Minister and his
(14:32):
government have talked about pressing on and restarting operations in
Gaza in a more intensified manner, but they have seemingly
stole the decision to push further into the Gaza Strip
while President Trump is in the region continuing with his tour.
So one of the big questions here, and I would
(14:53):
say just to end this, that there hasn't been a
lot of talk about the CES far in Gaza. There
was one comment that Present made during his speech in
Saudi Arabia, where he said Palestinians deserve a better future,
but then point to the blame at their own leaders
for getting them to the situation that they're in right now,
but nothing beyond that. So it's still a very delicate
moment when it comes to the war in Gaza, and indeed,
(15:17):
how Israel is going to be reacting to all of
the developments that came through in the last few days.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Jimani, you were covering this hour by hour, and the
President did lay out in speech as a kind of
grander vision for how he wants things to unfold, what
he wants the Middle East to look like. Could you
just synthesize that for us and maybe give us some
indication of what he's thinking when it comes to Iran.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
I think he said at.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
One point in that speech, and by the way, I
was in the room when he was speaking in Saudi Arabia.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
It is quite a long speech, but one.
Speaker 3 (15:47):
Point he did say, I don't like war, I don't
want war, I want peace.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
I want to deal with Iran.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
But ultimately he wants to cut a deal with Iran, which,
by the way, they'll probably end up in a city
situation where the US Iran new nuclear deal will be
very similar to the JCPOA deal that Obama put in
place back in twenty fifteen, which President Chump famously pulled
out of in his first term. Ultimately, I think he
(16:15):
sees an economic opportunity in this region. These sovereign wealth
funds are sitting on trillions of dollars worth of potential
capital to deploy. He's a deal maker, he likes doing deals,
and I would say he also likes accolades, and probably
at the back of his mind, because it's President Chump,
he's hoping and angling for one day to get the
(16:36):
Nobel Peace Prize.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
Jamia, thank you very much, Thank you. This is the
Big take from Bloomberg News. I'm David Gera. This episode
was produced by Our deputy executive producer Julia Weaver, with
help from Julia Press and Rachel Lewis Chrisky, who also
fact checked in. This episode was edited by Patty Hirsch
and Wendy Benjaminson and mixed and sound designed by Alex Sagura.
(17:00):
Senior producer is Naomi Shaven, Our senior editor is Elizabeth Ponso.
Our executive producer is Nicole Beemster Boor Sage Bauman is
Bloomberg's head of podcasts. If you liked this episode, make
sure to subscribe and review The Big Take wherever you
listen to podcasts. It helps people find the show. Thanks
for listening. We'll be back tomorrow
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