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Trump Embarks on Middle East Business Trip to Strengthen Ties with Gulf Allies

Trump Embarks on Middle East Business Trip to Strengthen Ties with Gulf Allies

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Trump is set to embark on his first overseas trip to the Middle East, where he will repeat a tour similar to his first international trip in 2017, emphasising transactional diplomacy and the economic interests of regional monarchies.

YNet
1. Despite the tensions, Israeli officials insist behind-the-scenes coordination with the Trump administration remains close, with no real policy rift.
Karoline Leavitt
Republican Party
1. His hosts will be generous and hospitable, eager to sign deals. They will flatter him rather than criticize him… and the Gulf is a real-estate developer's dream, with marshes and sand dunes transformed into gleaming apartment complexes, fountains, and shopping malls owned by people with government connections. In his mind, it's the world as it should be.
Ami Ayalon
Shin Bet
1. Riyadh is in need of foreign direct investment to meet its Vision 2030 reform targets and does not want to be frozen out of the opportunities that the UAE locked in by joining the Abraham Accords [US-brokered diplomatic normalization agreements between Israel and a set of Arab countries].
Elliott Abrams
1. I think there's some tension here … [Israel] knows that Trump is going to be spending a week in the Gulf hearing about Gaza, Gaza, Gaza, Gaza every day. So it's not the best moment in US-Israel or Trump-Israel relations.
Daniel Byman
Center for Strategic and International Studies
1. The Gulf states' main objective will be to determine not just U.S. policy but U.S. priorities.
Jon Alterman
Center for Strategic and International Studies
1. The US government doesn't speak with one voice and its actions remain uncoordinated.
2. President Trump is going to the Gulf because it's his favorite place.
Sanam Vakil
Chatham House
1. Arab countries expect Trump's visit will promote greater economic engagement, while the visit will also focus on promoting regional security cooperation with a GCC meeting [Gulf Cooperation Council, an alliance of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman].
Steve Cook
Council on Foreign Relations
1. Clearly, what [Trump] is looking to get out of all this is deals, the announcement of multiple multi-billion-dollar deals.