Tuesday Briefing
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Trump’s Gulf tour is all about business
President Trump has always viewed the presidency as a worldwide hunt for deals. Today he is set to begin a four-day swing through Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, and he has told his advisers that he wants to announce deals worth more than $1 trillion.
In place of any grand strategy will be a series of financial transactions that Trump will promote as producers of jobs for American workers. He is pushing Saudi leaders to invest a sum equivalent to Saudi Arabia’s entire annual gross domestic product.
Trump’s agenda conveniently aligns with his expanding business plans. His family has six deals pending with a majority Saudi-owned real estate firm, a cryptocurrency deal with a U.A.E. affiliate and a new golf and luxury villa project backed by Qatar.
A questionable gift: The Qatari royal family is going to great lengths to court Trump, offering as a donation a luxury Boeing 747-8 plane that will be upgraded to serve as Air Force One. Trump angrily brushed off ethical concerns about the gift yesterday, saying that only someone “stupid” would turn down such an offer.