Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates-President Donald Trump will return to Washington on Friday after a diplomatic tour of the Middle East, where he launched US businesses and secured investment promises, but failed to reach the peace agreements promised in Gaza and Ukraine.
Marked by high -level talks and luxurious regional hospitality exhibitions, the trip showed Trump’s self -denominated role as a merchant and pacifier. Even so, its highest goals, which resolve conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, are still difficult to achieve.
In Abu Dhabi, Trump crowned his tour for a week with a visit to Qasr al Watan, the Emirate presidential palace, where he toured exhibitions that exhibit investments in energy, medical care and aviation. Accompanied by Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Besent, the president met with business leaders and took shots at his predecessor.
“I’m just thinking, we have a president of the United States making the sale,” Trump said, hitting former President Joe Biden. “Do you think Biden would be doing this? I don’t think so.” A large screen at the event reused its campaign slogan to proclaim “make energy big again”, a wink to the economic approach of the trip.
Throughout the week, Trump announced large investments from the Middle East nations in American companies, including an investment agreement of $ 600 billion of Saudi Arabia and an agreement with Qatar Airways to buy hundreds of Boeing and GE Aerospace aircraft.
The visit occurred in the midst of controversy over Trump’s desire to accept a planned Government of Qatar: a luxury plane of $ 400 million that he hopes to use as Air Force One. The offer has caused a violent reaction of the Democrats and some Republicans at home about possible ethical, security and financial challenges.
Trump repeatedly rejected the concerns about the plane, saying that “he thought it was a great gesture.” He also ruled out the accusations that the trip, which arrived when his namesake company expands in the Middle East, created a possible conflict of interest.
However, even when he celebrated his economic victories, the president faced reality when leaving the ongoing wars in Gaza and Ukraine, conflicts he has promised to resolve.
The president has made us finish some of the most thorny conflicts in the world is a priority of his administration, promising to stop blood spill and achieve lasting peace. And in a sample of a strong commitment, he has sent the main assistants to the cause, with the special envoy Steve Witkoff Hopscotching The Globe in search of the president’s goal. Before leaving Washington, Trump announced the launch of Edan Alexander, an American in Hamas, with Qatar playing a central role in the negotiations.
However, the president acknowledged that there are significant challenges. “We are looking at Gaza,” Trump told journalists aboard Air Force One when he left Abu Dhabi. “And let’s take care of that. Many people are starving.”
When Trump concluded his trip on Friday, Israeli air attacks had killed more than 100 people in the last 24 hours, according to local health authorities.
On Friday, he asked about future opportunities for the face -to -face diplomacy between him and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump replied: “We have to meet. He and I will meet. I think we will resolve it, or maybe not.”
Previously, Trump had expressed his disappointment, but did not surprise when Putin could not attend a planned meeting in Türkiye. “I didn’t think it was possible if it were,” Trump said, noting that his schedule had made the trip unsustainable.
Instead, he made fun of the almost possibility of advancement in nuclear conversations with Iran. Trump told reporters on Friday that his administration had submitted a proposal for an agreement with Tehran, after describing his efforts “in very serious negotiations with Iran for long -term peace.” At the beginning of the week, Trump hinted that he expected an agreement to be close, stating that “we are not going to do any nuclear dust in Iran.”
He said Friday to recognize the new Syrian government, and raise what he called “brutal” and “jaw” sanctions, was “the right” as the new leadership consolidates its control.
Trump said Wednesday that the trip did not neglect Benjamin Netanyahu renouncing a visit to Israeli prime minister, explaining that their relations with Arab leaders are “very good for Israel.” He also said he communicated with Netanyahu about the decision to raise the sanctions to Syria.
Analysts are parallel between this trip and Trump’s tour in the Middle East 2017.
“The key to see is what comes later in the region and what great steps takes its administration,” said Brian Katulis, the main member of the Middle East Institute. After 2017, the Gulf region saw a crack that isolated Qatar for three years and a campaign of “maximum pressure” of the United States against Iran that said it failed to deliver lasting results. However, the trip also laid the foundations for Abraham’s agreements, the 2020 agreement that normalized the ties between Israel and several Arab states, which remains the performance of Trump’s foreign policy and that Biden sought to continue.
Trump points higher. “This time, Trump is looking for a historical advance with Iran in nuclear conversations and also dreams of obtaining a Nobel Prize if he obtains that agreement from Iran or expands Abraham’s agreements to include a Saudi-Israeli standardization agreement,” Katulis said.
Trump’s hosts this week have also played important roles in these efforts, helping to mediate conflicts and offering support to negotiations, and the president acknowledged that there was more to do when he left Abu Dhabi.
“Unexpected surprises and events have a way to eliminate US administrations,” Katulis said. “The ongoing war in Gaza and the growing misery of the Palestinians who live there will be a critical test.”
