In his first trip abroad of his second term, President Donald Trump will have a high-profile visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the U.A.E. from May 13 to 16, with big economic deals reportedly on the agenda. Bloomberg reports that top executives of BlackRock, Citigroup, Alphabet and other multinational giant will also be in Saudi Arabia along with Trump. “BlackRock Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink, Citigroup Inc.’s Jane Fraser and top bosses of American tech firms will visit Saudi Arabia along with Donald Trump next week,” Bloomberg reported. “Other U.S. executives who will travel to Riyadh include Blackstone Inc.’s Steve Schwarzman, Franklin Templeton’s Jenny Johnson, and Alphabet Inc.’s Ruth Porat. They’re slated to speak at the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum on May 13.… IBM Corp.’s CEO Arvind Krishna and Qualcomm Inc.’s Cristiano Amon will also be at the investment conference.”
Trump is expected to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and is hoping to land a deal, according to Bloomberg, which would include about $1 trillion in increased trade and investment each from Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E. Saudi Arabia, for its part, is hoping to seal a major defense deal with the U.S., along with security guarantees, in order to bolster its efforts to become the dominant business center in the Gulf. Major deals along these lines have been under discussion for years, but there is no indication that the underlying difficulties the Saudis see have been resolved: an end to the Gaza genocide, and the recognition of a Palestinian state.
