On the final day of his Middle East trip, President Donald Trump unveiled a last-minute $1 trillion deal before expressing his intention to return home to meet his newborn grandson.
Trump’s daughter Tiffany gave birth to a baby boy – Alexander Trump Boulos – on Thursday. It’s her first child and the president’s 11th grandbaby.
During a business roundtable in Abu Dhabi, Trump spoke about the end of his fruitful visit, stating, ‘It’s been a tremendous time. Now it’s time to go back home. My daughter had a baby. I’m going to go back home and see that little baby.’
Reflecting on the timing of his departure, Trump admitted, “‘I probably should have left yesterday,’ he conceded. ‘But I couldn’t disappoint you,’ he told Crown Prince Khaled Bin Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. ‘Your father would have been extremely upset with me, and you would have been more upset.’
With the announcement Trump confirmed he would not be headed to Turkey for talks on a Russia-Ukraine peace deal. The president had dangled the possibility of a drop-in but Russian President Vladimir Putin decided not to go to Istanbul to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
President Trump said he’s leaving the Middle East to go home and see his new grandson
‘My daughter had a baby. I’m going to go back home and see that little baby, and then we get back to a lot of work. We’ll see what happens with Russia and Ukraine,’ Trump said.
He noted he’d meet with Putin ‘as soon as we can set it up. I was gonna, I would actually leave here and go, I do want to see my beautiful grandson.’
Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in Turkey but won’t sit in the talks, noting the United States doesn’t ‘have high expectations’ for a deal.
Trump said on Thursday he doesn’t expect a deal to be done until he and Putin can meet.
In the meantime, the president and UAE leaders announced a $1.4 trillion investment pledge, which includes plans from the UAE’s Etihad Airways plans to purchase dozens of American-made Boeing aircraft powered by GE engines.
Trump even had kind words for Boeing – a marked change from his recent criticism about its delay in delivering two 747s to serve as the new Air Force Ones.
‘It’s just my opinion but Boeing makes the best planes. They’ve had some headaches over the last few years, but they make the best planes,’ he said. ‘The General Electric engine is phenomenal.’
But his own issues with the aerospace giant remained on his mind.
‘I leave now and get on a 42-year-old Boeing,’ he said of the current Air Force One. ‘The new ones are coming. New ones are coming.’
Trump’s acceptance of a $400 million luxury jet from the Qatari Royal Family – which he plans to use as an Air Force One – has been one of the controversial issues of the trip.
But, in his four-days in the Middle East, Trump has wracked up an astonishing number of deals.
Qatar and the U.S. agreed on a $1.2 trillion ‘economic exchange,’ which includes a $200 billion order from Qatar Airways for Boeing jets.
Saudi Arabia offered a $600 billion investment – including nearly $142 billion in weapons, which the White House described as the largest-ever arms deal.
Trump lamented his own legacy coming out of the trip, noting it will be some future president who could receive credit as these investments come to fruition.
‘Can you imagine – I’ll be sitting at home, who the hell knows where I’ll be, and I’ll say, ‘I did that,’ and everyone will say, but somebody’s gonna be cutting a ribbon, as well… Somebody’s going to be taking the credit for this. You remember, press: This guy did it,’ he told reporters.
President Donald Trump looks at a display during a business forum in Abu Dhabi
Tiffany Trump gave birth to a baby boy on Thursday
Trump said it was important that Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates be the stops in the first major foreign trip of his second term.
‘Coming to Saudi Arabia, Qatar was very important to me because of personal relationships that I had, maybe more than anything else. So it’s been an amazing period of time,’ he said. ‘We’re developing a lot of fans.’
‘People have said they’ve never seen anything like taking place over the last four days, in terms of investment,’ he added, ‘in terms of the kind of money coming back into the United States. And all that money, the money is a nice word, but it’s really jobs. We have jobs that are at a level that we very soon will not be able to nobody can duplicate it.’
The wealthy gulf nations put on quite the displays for the president – escorting the Beast down wide avenues with camels and horses while red cybertrucks led the motorcade; having dancing women twirling their hair and children with flowers and flags greet; and handing over lavish gifts such as a gold necklace.
Each nation sent fighter planes to escort Air Force One and offered lavish displays of military might and staggering wealth.
Leaders also gave Trump state dinners, tours of historical sites, massive mosques and white marble palaces.
Trump showed his appreciation.
‘As a construction guy, this is perfect marble,’ Trump said Wednesday at one of his stops.
‘This is what they call perfecto. We appreciate those camels,’ he added. ‘I haven’t seen camels like that in a long time. And really, we appreciate it very much.’
The president enjoyed a ‘bromance’ with his Muslim counterparts: he and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman praised one another repeatedly.
‘I like you too much,’ the president told MBS.
Trump described Qatar’s ruling emir and his family as ‘tall, handsome guys.’
And he told Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates: ‘You’re a magnificent man.’
President Donald J. Trump receives the Order of Zayed, UAE’s top civil honor
Qatari military aircraft perform a flyover before President Donald Trump departed
Guards sit on camels outside Lusail Palace in Doha
In addition to the massive investment totals over his four-day trip, Trump met with Syria’s president and offered renewed optimism for an Iran nuclear deal.
There was no breakthrough on the Gaza war, but Trump did suggest turning the area into a ‘freedom zone’.
‘We’re looking at Gaza — and we gotta get that taken care of. A lot of people are starving. There’s a lot of bad things going on,’ the president said.
