America’s partnerships in the Gulf form an important pillar of regional security arrangements, and Gulf leaders have played key roles as global mediators in pressing geopolitical crises, but Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar have also acted in ways that contravene U.S. interests. In the instances of these three key Gulf countries, Trump’s many conflicts of interests should raise major concerns.
Saudi Arabia
Trump made his stop in Riyadh a focal point of last week’s visit to Saudi Arabia. With a warm welcome from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), Trump addressed the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum, where he outlined a vision for regional policy that championed national sovereignty while downplaying democracy and human rights. Onstage, he promised that the United States would no longer deliver “lectures” and encouraged the people of the region to pursue “[their] own destinies in [their] own way.” The same day, Trump announced an astonishing $142 billion in prospective arms sales to the country.
Despite the supposed commitment to nonintervention that Trump made in his speech, his close relationship with MBS and the massive arms sales package represent Trump’s clear embrace of a brutal, corrupt, authoritarian regime whose interests often contradict those of the United States (and the democratic aspirations of its own people). After all, the CIA concluded that MBS was personally responsible for the gruesome murder of Virginia resident and Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi—and Saudi Arabia continues to engage in acts of transnational repression on U.S. soil. While MBS has positioned Saudi Arabia as mediator in resolving the war in Ukraine and signaled openness to normalizing relations with Israel in exchange for Israeli concessions on Palestine, the kingdom has also played a largely destabilizing role in other regional conflicts, bearing significant responsibility for a devastating humanitarian crisis in Yemen, where the Houthis have resurged in power.
Although these concerns present compelling reasons why a U.S. president should not reward MBS, President Trump seemingly has personal reasons to bolster his relationship with the Gulf leader. Saudi Arabia’s LIV Golf League—funded by the country’s Public Investment Fund (PIF)—has hosted tournaments at the Trump National Doral Golf Club near Miami. The PIF has also invested $2 billion in a firm of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, which Kushner established after he left his White House role during Trump’s first term. Further, Dar Global, a developer with ties to the Saudi government, recently announced two new Trump residential projects and a new golf course in the kingdom—all of which directly benefit The Trump Organization.
Qatar
The Qatari offer to provide President Trump a new plane to use as Air Force One has garnered widespread media attention—and condemnation even from within the ranks of Trump’s base. But Trump’s Qatari dealings don’t end there: The Trump Organization has agreed to a new Middle East golf course and real estate deal with Qatari Diar, a real estate company established by the country’s sovereign wealth fund and chaired by a government minister.
Some critics of Trump’s dealings with Qatar point to the country’s ties to foreign terrorist organizations, such as Hamas, which Doha supported for years (with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s encouragement). Yet while Qatar’s relationship with Hamas has drawn fierce criticism, it has also allowed Qatar to play a critical role as intermediary in negotiating toward a ceasefire in Gaza. Still, the country’s poor record on human rights, particularly around egregious labor abuses and its repression of the LGBT+ community, raises concerns—as does its openness to using its influence to subvert American norms (and potentially laws) on corruption in order to advance its own interests.
The United Arab Emirates
In the last stop on his trip, President Trump visited Abu Dhabi. Days before his visit, the U.S. State Department approved two major arms sales to the UAE, totaling more than $1.4 million. These approvals blew past a hold that Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, had placed on the sales over concerns about the UAE’s role in fueling conflict in Sudan. (While the nature of this type of hold is informal, previous administrations have respected the authority of congressional leadership in holding sales while the two branches of government navigate concerns.) As the Center for American Progress has previously noted, the UAE has provided ongoing military support to the Sudanese paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), smuggling weapons into and benefiting from gold trade out of Sudan. The conflict has resulted in one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, contributed to mass displacement, and risks further destabilizing the region.
Trump’s stop in Abu Dhabi also bolstered the UAE’s ambition to become a global hub for artificial intelligence (AI)—an aspiration that requires the import of microchips from the United States. Last Tuesday, the U.S. Commerce Department announced it would do away with Biden-era export controls intended to regulate the transfer of sensitive technologies, as Trump pursued major chip and data center deals with the UAE and Saudi Arabia during his visit. These deals raise national security concerns around the transfer of sensitive technologies to foreign firms—including those with links to China—as well as concerns around privacy, civil liberties, and democracy protections in regulatory frameworks, given the UAE’s track record on using advanced technologies for surveillance, repression, and misinformation.
As with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Trump stands to personally gain from his dealings in the UAE, notable through World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company partly owned by Trump and his family. Earlier this month, the company announced that Abu Dhabi state-backed firm MGX would use $2 billion worth of its stablecoin to finance a deal in crypto exchange company Binance—a deal that will generate millions of dollars for the Trump family. And Emirati DAMAC Properties, which has announced major investments in U.S.-based AI data centers, has also funded Trump-affiliated golf courses in Dubai.
Conclusion
Trump’s Gulf business dealings raise obvious ethical concerns and demonstrate clear conflicts of interest with U.S. national security and foreign policy. Fortunately, Congress can play an important role in exercising oversight and ensuring that the administration fully accounts for its foreign policy.
For one, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has announced that he will place a hold on all political nominations for the U.S. Department of Justice. And last Thursday, Reps. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) and Gregory Meeks introduced joint resolutions of disapproval (JRDs) on arms sales to the UAE in the House; Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Tim Kaine (D-VA), and Brian Schatz (D-HI) also introduced JRDs on the arms sales to the UAE and Qatar in the Senate. These efforts mark important steps to hold President Trump accountable for his conflicts of interest. Although the JRDs face an uphill battle in gaining enough support to block nominations or arms sales, members of Congress should nonetheless support them, using floor time to raise concerns and demand answers from the administration in full view of the American public.
While Trump stands to personally gain from rewarding Gulf leaders for their personal and business relationships with him, the American people should not have to wonder whether his foreign policy decisions leave the country less safe and the world less stable.