Latest news with #SalmanBinHamadAlKhalifa
CTV News
5 days ago
- Business
- CTV News
Trump hosts Gulf leaders at White House as new violence raises questions about progress toward peace
U.S. President Donald Trump and Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa speak in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump hosted a pair of Arab Gulf leaders at the White House on Wednesday as violence between Israel and Syria renewed doubts about his pledge to impose peace on the Middle East. Trump held a meeting in the Oval Office with Bahrain's crown prince and dined privately with Qatar's prime minister. The Republican president has lavished attention on the Gulf, a wealthy region where members of his family have extensive business relationships. He has already visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on the first foreign policy trip of his second term. With little progress to share on the region's most intractable problems, including the war in Gaza, Trump was more focused Wednesday on promoting diplomatic ties as a vehicle for economic growth. 'Anything they needed, we helped them,' Trump said in the Oval Office while meeting with Bahrain Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. 'And anything we needed, they helped us.' Meeting with Bahrain's crown prince Bahrain is a longtime ally that hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet, which operates in the Middle East. Like other Arab leaders, Al Khalifa was eager to highlight the lucrative potential of diplomatic ties with the U.S., including $17 billion of investments. 'And this is real,' he said. 'It's real money. These aren't fake deals.' According to the White House, the agreements include purchasing American airplanes, jet engines and computer servers. More investments could be made in aluminum production and artificial intelligence. Bahrain's king, the crown prince's father, is expected to visit Washington before the end of the year. An important part of the relationship will be an agreement, signed on Wednesday, to advance cooperation on civilian nuclear energy. Dinner with Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the prime minister of Qatar and a member of the country's ruling family, was at the White House for a private dinner with Trump on Wednesday evening. Trump visited Qatar during his trip to the region, marveling at its palaces and stopping at the Al Udeid Air Base, a key U.S. military facility. The base was targeted by Iran after the U.S. bombed the country's nuclear facilities. One ballistic missile made impact, while others were intercepted. Trump wants to use a luxurious Boeing 747 donated by Qatar as his Air Force One because he's tired of waiting for Boeing to finish new planes. However, the arrangement has stirred concerns about security and the ethics of accepting a gift from a foreign government. Aaron David Miller, who served as an adviser on Middle East issues to Democratic and Republican administrations, said 'the Gulf represents everything that Trump believes is right about the Middle East.' 'It's rich, it's stable, it's populated by authoritarians with whom the president feels very comfortable,' he said. Fighting in Syria The fighting in Syria began with clashes between Sunni Bedouin tribes and Druze factions in the country's south. Government forces intervened, raising alarms in Israel, where the Druze are a politically influential religious minority. On Wednesday, Israel launched strikes in the Syrian capital of Damascus. A ceasefire was later announced, but it was unclear if it would hold. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who was in the Oval Office for Trump's meeting with the crown prince of Bahrain, said the fighting was the result of 'an unfortunate situation and a misunderstanding.' He said 'we think we're on our way to a real de-escalation' that would allow Syria to 'get back on track' to rebuilding after years of civil war. Despite an international outcry over its punishing military operations in Gaza, Israel has successfully weakened its enemies around the region, including Hezbollah and Iran. 'There's a growing concern that Israel been a bigger sense of unpredictability,' Brian Katulis, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute, said. He also warned that 'there's still no game plan to deal with the loose ends of Iran's nuclear program and its other activities in the region,' such as support for the Houthis. Chris Megerian, The Associated Press
Al Jazeera
5 days ago
- Business
- Al Jazeera
Bahrain to invest $17bn in US amid deals with Boeing, Oracle, Cisco
Bahrain's crown prince is set to invest more than $17bn in the United States. The White House outlined the new deal before a meeting between Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa and US President Donald Trump. Sitting with the crown prince of Bahrain, he described the Gulf nation as a 'fantastic ally.' He said they would discuss trade and other topics. The prince said they would announce investments in the United States, which 'builds upon a legacy that we're very proud of'. As part of the investment, Bahrain will sign a deal between Gulf Air and Boeing/GE valued at about $7bn for 12 aircraft with an option for six more. The deal also includes the sale of 40 GE engines, according to the White House. The announcement from the crown prince comes on the heels of foreign investment deals Trump made during a trip to the Middle East in May. During a visit to Riyadh, Trump secured a $600bn commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the United States and agreed to sell the Saudis an arms package worth nearly $142bn. The White House said the Bahrain deal will support 30,000 American jobs and was secured with help from Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The crown prince will also commit to deploying additional capital amounting to billions of dollars. Bahrain is expected to be signing deals with Oracle and Cisco, with plans to replace Chinese servers with Cisco products, the White House said. Bahrain also seeks to increase its investments in US energy, tech and manufacturing sectors. The White House says the crown prince intends to deploy capital to increase US domestic aluminium production, invest in US LNG production to secure BAH energy supplies and buy cutting-edge AI chips, partnering with US hyper-scalers. During the visit, the crown prince will also announce the kingdom's intention to make these investments and sign various deals and memorandums of understanding (MOUs). One of these MOUs creates a framework for Bahrain to begin discussions towards developing commercial nuclear capabilities. Later this year, the king of Bahrain will visit Washington to finalise these agreements and solidify the progress made in building our two nations's economic prosperity, the White House said. US markets remained relatively flat on the announcement. As of 12:00pm ET (16:00 GMT) the S&P 500 was down 0.1 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq was down 0.09 percent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.04 percent. Boeing stock is down 0.3 percent from the market open, after an earlier upward surge this morning. GE trending upwards on the news, up 0.1. The new investment agreement comes as the White House's tariff strategy remains in the spotlight. In April, when the White House paused country-specific tariffs, the Trump administration said it would have 90 deals in 90 days. With that deadline having passed, the US has only solidified three, including Vietnam, UK and as of Tuesday, Indonesia. In the news conference, the crown prince also said that Bahrain would not provide Ukraine with Patriot missiles.
Bloomberg
5 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Bahrain's PM Vows $17 Billion US Investment During Trump Meeting
Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa pledged $17 billion worth of investments in the US as he met with President Donald Trump at the White House. 'This is real. These aren't fake deals,' the crown prince, who also serves as his country's prime minister, told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
Al Arabiya
5 days ago
- Business
- Al Arabiya
Bahrain to announce $17 billion in US deals during Trump talks
Bahrain's crown prince is set to announce plans to invest more than $17 billion in the United States during a meeting with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, a White House official said. As part of the investment, Bahrain is expected to sign a deal between Gulf Air and Boeing/GE valued at around $7 billion for 12 aircraft with an option for six more, the official said. The deal also includes the sale of 40 GE engines, the official said. The announcement from Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa comes on the heels of foreign investment deals Trump made during a trip to the Middle East in May. During a visit to Riyadh, Trump secured a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the United States and agreed to sell the Saudis an arms package worth nearly $142 billion. The White House official said the Bahrain deal will support 30,000 American jobs and was secured with help from Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. The crown prince will also commit to deploy additional capital in excess of billions of dollars. Bahrain is expected to be signing deals with Oracle and Cisco, with plans to replace Chinese servers with Cisco products, the official said. Bahrain also seeks to increase its investments in US energy, tech and manufacturing sectors. The official said the crown prince intends to deploy capital to increase US domestic aluminum production, invest in US LNG production to secure BAH energy supplies and purchase cutting edge AI chips partnering with US hyper-scalers. During the visit, the crown prince will announce the kingdom's intention to make these investments and sign various deals and memoranda of understanding. One of these MOUs creates a framework for Bahrain to begin discussions towards developing commercial nuclear capabilities, the official said. Later this year, the king of Bahrain will visit Washington to finalize these agreements and solidify the progress made in building our two nation's economic prosperity, the official said.
The National
5 days ago
- Business
- The National
Bahrain and US firms sign investment deals worth $17bn
Private sector companies from Bahrain and the US have signed investment deals worth $17 billion amid the strengthening of economic ties between the two countries. The deals cover aviation, technology, industry and investment and were signed during the visit of Bahrain's Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who is also Prime Minister, to the US on Tuesday, the Bahrain News Agency reported. The deals include several financial institutions and private firms from Bahrain investing $10.7 billion in the US. Communications giant Cisco will provide digital solutions for Bahrain government's information and telecoms network as part of the deals, BNA said. US and Bahraini companies have also agreed to establish an 800km multi-fibre submarine cable link that will connect Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq with global networks. A deal was also signed for co-operation between Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat Holding and several US companies, with a total investment value of $2 billion, aimed at creating jobs in aluminium-related industries. A deal related to the launch of direct flights between Bahrain and New York was also signed. During a reception hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington, Prince Salman said that strengthening co-operation between the two countries was 'crucial to create opportunities for development through joint investments, expertise exchange and partnerships that advance mutual interests'. Bahrain is continuing to strengthen its position as a leading investment destination and a strategic partner for the US in the Gulf region through the kingdom's open economic environment, advanced legislative framework and established trade agreements that allow American companies to access regional markets, Prince Salman said. The countries have had a free-trade agreement in place since 2006, according to to the office of the US Trade representative. In 2021, the US also signed a preliminary agreement to establish a free-trade zone in Bahrain to boost bilateral relations. The countries will promote the free zone as a regional centre for trade, manufacturing, logistics and distribution between US companies in Bahrain and the rest of the Gulf region, the Bahrain government said at the time. Bahrain is the latest among Gulf countries to boost economic relations with the US. Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar signed deals worth billions of dollars during President Donald Trump's visit to the three countries in May. Bahrain's economy is forecast to grow by 3.5 per cent this year amid diversification of its economy, the World Bank said last month.
