Trump pursuing major 'deals' on Middle East trip — but 'things are really complicated'

President Donald Trump continues to draw mockery and ridicule for proposing to turn war-torn Gaza into a resort area. Regardless, Trump is focusing heavily on the Middle East this month. And he will be leaving for a trip to the Middle East this Monday, May 12 to pursue deals with three Middle Eastern countries: Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

According to National Public Radio (NPR) reporters Franco Ordoñez and Tamara Keith, Trump "will showcase a promise by Saudi Arabia to invest $600 billion in the United States over the next four years and pledges from the UAE to spend $1.4 trillion over 10 years."

Steven Cook of the Council on Foreign Relations told NPR, "The Saudis, the Emiratis and Qataris are going to fall all over themselves over who can outdo themselves to welcome the president. And then they will outdo themselves over the number of deals that they can announce as the president is there…. It's good for them because when he comes to them and says, 'We want your help doing something on Gaza,' and they're not inclined to do it, they will be insulated from the criticism that would likely come if they just didn't do anything."

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Dennis Ross, who focused on Middle Eastern matters for Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, told NPR that for Trump, a lot is riding on this trip to the Middle East.

Ross argued, "Right now, the president doesn't have a lot of successes to point to. So I think he's going to want to play up the trip in terms of showing, 'Look what I'm producing for the United States.'"

This won't be Trump's first trip to Saudi Arabic. When Trump visited Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2017 during his first presidency, almost $110 billion in arms sales were announced.

John Parachini, a senior defense researcher for the Rand Corp, told NPR, "There are a lot of steps in any arms sales process…. He's going to send a strong signal that he's supporting American business, but these things are really complicated and can take years."

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Read the full NPR article at this link.