Qatar has just inked a deal with Boeing that could amount to billions for one of the United States’ major manufacturers of commercial and military planes. The agreement involves Qatar purchasing a whopping 160 wide-bodied passenger aircraft from Boeing. This substantial deal was finalized during President Trump’s recent visit to the Middle East.
Qatar signs an agreement with Boeing to purchase 160 aircraft — the largest widebody aircraft order in the American company’s history pic.twitter.com/JIG4qDxcfe
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 14, 2025
The aircraft are intended for the Qatar national airline, Qatar Airways.
During the visit, US President Donald Trump proudly announced the significant agreement, highlighting it as a groundbreaking purchase of 160 aircraft by Qatar Airways from Boeing. The deal is valued at over 200 billion US dollars, showcasing the immense scale and financial impact of this partnership.
The announcement came as Trump signed a series of bilateral agreements in Doha alongside the Amir of Qatar HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
“It’s the largest order of jets in the history of Boeing. That’s pretty good,” Trump remarked during the signing ceremony in the Qatari capital.
The aircraft purchase was one of several agreements finalized between the United States and Qatar, including expanded cooperation in defense.
A $200 billion deal is nothing to sneeze at. Add this to the list of things President Trump is accomplishing in the Middle East that many would have thought unlikely.
Of course, there is the issue of Boeing’s backlog. The President just accepted the offer of a converted Qatar airliner to be delivered to the United States Air Force to be converted to a new Air Force One, as Boeing is running years behind on delivery of replacements for the aging AF1 fleet. We should also note that Boeing has struggled with quality control problems in recent years.
A $200 billion influx might help to fix some of those problems. Ditching any idiotic DEI hiring and promotion practices may help as well. This isn’t the first big project Boeing has landed since President Trump resumed office; last March, the Department of Defense announced that Boeing would be the manufacturer of the next-generation F-47 fighter aircraft.
Also on Wednesday, the Trump White House released an emailed fact sheet detailing all the deals made during the president’s Middle East tour:
That’s a lot of money pouring into American employers.
A cautionary note, however, is in order. The Trump administration should keep in mind that Qatar has supported Islamic terrorist groups in the past, including Hamas.
“Qatar is not, in my opinion, a great ally. I mean, they support Hamas. So what I’m worried about is the safety of the president,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., told reporters on Tuesday.
That may be changing, especially as American foreign policy is less weak and directionless than it was under the former administration. More recently, Qatar has been a valuable intermediary in discussions that resulted in the release of American hostages in Afghanistan and Gaza:
In March, weeks of negotiations led by U.S. and Qatari mediators led to the release of , who had been imprisoned by the Taliban in Afghanistan for more than two years. Doha’s negotiators were also involved in the U.S.-Hamas deal to release the last living American hostage, Edan Alexander, on Monday.
There is an apocryphal quote, often attributed to Abraham Lincoln. When asked if he did not want to destroy his enemies, Lincoln supposedly replied, “Isn’t that what I’ve done when I’ve made them my friends?” That’s an admirable notion, but such friendships should be tempered with caution. Still, business relationships have a way of pouring oil on troubled waters. It will be interesting to see what the Middle East looks like a year from now.
