Trump's Saudi Arabia Trip - What Each Side Wants.

Trump’s First Middle East Visit In His Second Term: Importance Of Saudi Arabia.

• This week, Donald Trump will make his first visit to the Middle East in his second term.

• Ahead of the trip, a lot of media attention has rightly focused on the blatant corruption with Qatar - that Trump accepted this luxury gift and intends to use it for his personal use is blatant corruption.

• (side note: if this goes through, it would be important to ask if the Pentagon provided the Qataris with all the highly classified engineering schematics and design details for the Air Force One defensive systems, including those integrated directly into the aircraft’s structure? Or is this particular plane unfit from a security standpoint? If so, will this be for future personal use only?)

• Notably, he will not be visiting Israel - America’s closest ally in the Middle East (not counting NATO ally Turkiye - which is almost on par or a close second.)

• Instead, the highlight of this trip will be Saudi Arabia.

• And there are a number of reasons for that:

• 1) Mega Deals.

• Just like in 2017, when Saudi Arabia committed to over $110 billion in U.S. arms purchases, this visit is likely to feature similarly grand gestures.

• In fact, during a prior meeting earlier this year between Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Washington, the Crown Prince allegedly promised a staggering $600 billion in U.S. investments.

• That number has since ballooned in rhetoric to as high as $1 trillion - a figure that’s implausible, considering Saudi Arabia’s entire GDP hovers around that mark.

• But the spectacle of such an announcement serves a purpose: it gives Trump a short-term political boost, especially after weeks of volatility following tariff announcements and a dip in approval ratings.

• There are also rumors that Riyadh could sign deals for $100 billion worth of U.S. military hardware - despite Saudi Arabia’s annual defense budget being just $78 billion.

• (side note: long-term installment contracts however, could make this feasible.)

• Regardless of how inflated these figures may be, the optics of “hundreds of billions” in deals will play well for Trump domestically.