Trump's Middle East trip: 5 things to watch

President Trump is heading to the Middle East this week for the first extended foreign trip of his second term, with stops planned in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar.

Trump and his aides are expected to focus intensely on financial investments and trade during the trip, but it will also be shadowed by controversy over a Qatari luxury jet being gifted to the U.S. to be used as a new Air Force One.

The Russia-Ukraine war will also likely come up as officials plan to meet in Turkey on Thursday.

Here are five things to watch.

Qatari plane controversy

Trump’s visit to the Middle East, and to Qatar in particular, comes fresh on the heels of news that the Qatari government was gifting the U.S. government a luxury Boeing 747 to be used as a new Air Force One.

Trump defended accepting the luxury jet on Monday, just before leaving for his trip, saying it would be “stupid” not to take the gift and insisting it will go to the Defense Department then to his presidential library after he leaves office.

When asked for his response to critics who view the plane as a personal gift, Trump replied, “They’re giving us a free jet.” 

“I could say, ‘No, no, no, don’t give [it to] us. I want to pay you a billion or $400 million or whatever it is.’ Or I could say, ‘Thank you very much,’” Trump said, calling it a “great gesture.”

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt told Fox News on Monday that the legal details of the gift from the Qataris were “still being worked out, but of course, any donation to this government is always done in full compliance with the law, and we commit ourselves to the utmost transparency.”

It is unclear what, if anything, Qatar gets in return.

Democrats were quick to draw attention to the arrangement, decrying it as a clear case of an improper gift and a potential avenue for the Qataris to influence the White House. Multiple Democrats publicly pondered what the GOP response would be if former President Obama or former President Biden had accepted such a gift from a foreign nation.

Even some Republicans, including Trump allies, have expressed unease over the arrangement given Qatar’s support for Hamas and its human rights record.

“Nothing about getting Air Force One from a foreign government feels right. It may be legal, but I wouldn’t do it,” former George W. Bush White House press secretary Ari Fleischer posted on the social platform X. “Air Force One should be American through and through. It shouldn’t pass through foreign hands and it shouldn’t be a gift from a King. Don’t do it.”

Push for investments

Arguably the chief purpose of Trump’s trip to the Middle East is to strengthen relationships and discuss potential investment opportunities with each of the three countries he’s visiting.

Axios reported that Trump’s goal is to return from the trip with $1 trillion worth of investment pledges and business deals.

Days after Trump’s inauguration, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said his country would invest $600 billion in the U.S. over the four years of Trump’s second term. Trump’s first call to a foreign leader after his swearing-in was to the crown prince, and he will attend an investment forum on Tuesday in Riyadh.

The UAE then committed to a 10-year, $1.4 trillion “investment framework” in the U.S., the White House announced in March. That framework “will substantially increase the UAE’s existing investments in the U.S. economy in AI infrastructure, semiconductors, energy, and American manufacturing,” the White House said at the time.

On his first foreign trip of his first term in May 2017, which was also to Riyadh, Trump signed a $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia, which he had to defend after the killing of  journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

And, ahead of this trip, the administration gave initial approval to sell $3.5 billion worth of missiles for Saudi Arabia’s fighter jets, which has the second-largest fleet of F-15 fighter jets behind the U.S.

Wider Middle East policy looms

Trump’s trip to the Middle East does not include a planned stop in Israel, but the administration’s alliance with the Israelis and its foreign policy toward Gaza and Iran will loom over the president’s trip.

The president announced Sunday that Hamas would release Edan Alexander, the last living U.S. hostage held in Gaza.

The move could open talks to renewed efforts for a longer-term pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas. Trump has sought to portray himself as a president uniquely capable of brokering peace, even as he has floated controversial proposals like the U.S. taking control of the Gaza Strip and developing it.

Elsewhere in the Middle East, Trump said Monday that he was weighing potentially lifting sanctions on Syria as it grapples with the aftermath of the fall of Bashar Assad’s government.

Trump administration officials have also spoken about efforts to broker some kind of nuclear deal with Iran to avoid a wider conflict in the region. The president indicated before departing for the Middle East that those discussions were going well.

“We’re in the midst of talking to them. They’re right now acting very intelligent,” Trump told reporters on Monday. “We want Iran to be wealthy, and wonderful, and happy and great, but they can’t have a nuclear weapon. It’s very simple.”

Trade talks

Trump’s visit to the Middle East comes as his administration has said they’re in talks with all trading partners to try to strike deals that would lower tariffs once a 90-day deadline is reached in July.

Before leaving Washington, the White House said it had reached an agreement with China to lower the tariff rate from 145 percent to 30 percent, while China agreed to lower its tariff rate on U.S. goods from 125 percent to 10 percent.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the first foreign leader to sit down with Trump at the White House after the worldwide duties were announced to try to strike a deal on tariffs, but Trump’s plans to not visit Israel while in the Middle East is a signal that a deal isn’t close.

Trump imposed a 10 percent tariff on both the UAE and Saudi Arabia in April, which was a relatively low amount compared with what he levied on Asian trading partners. 

The U.S. exported $27 billion worth of goods to the UAE in 2024 and carried a trade surplus of around $20 billion with the Arab nation, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative. The U.S. also carried a trade surplus with Saudi Arabia of more than $443 million in 2024.

The White House last week announced a trade agreement with the United Kingdom to include billions of dollars of increased market access to American exports. The U.S. also carried a trade surplus in goods with the U.K. in 2024.

Conflicts of interest with family business ventures

Trump and his family have several business ventures in the Middle East, which has raised questions over whether the president will work on any business dealings on his trip.

The Trump Organization, which is run by the president’s son Eric Trump, agreed to a new Middle East golf course and real estate deal last month.

A UAE-based investment firm announced earlier this month that it was making a major investment that involved the Trump family’s cryptocurrency.

When questioned if President Trump has any plans to meet with people involved with the family businesses while in the Middle East, Leavitt on Friday told reporters it was “frankly ridiculous” to suggest Trump is benefiting from being president.

The luxury jet that Trump is accepting from Qatar also raises questions over whether the president is enriching himself while in office. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, called the jet gift “a grift.”

Qatari officials told The Hill the plane would not be given to Trump during his trip to the country this week.