Updated May 13, 2025 at 12:47 PM CDT
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Trump on Tuesday said he would order an end to sanctions on Syria in place since 1979, and the White House said he would briefly meet Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Thursday, a dramatic about-turn in U.S. policy toward a man who until recently led a group the United States labeled a terrorist organization.
"There is a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace," Trump said to extended applause at an investment conference in Riyadh, where he made the first major foreign policy address of his second term.
Until earlier this year, Sharaa led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham — a group linked to al-Qaeda — which overthrew Bashar al-Assad's government. Sharaa was named head of a new interim government in January and has worked since then to build international legitimacy.
It was an early moment of diplomacy in Trump's first official overseas trip, which has otherwise been defined by business deals. Trump arrived in Saudi Arabia accompanied by a massive delegation of top U.S. CEOs and members of his Cabinet who reflect the array of business and security interests underpinning relations with the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia is no longer just a key oil producer in the world, but a country in transition looking to diversify its economy, position itself as a mediator on the global stage and spur new industries that can create millions of jobs for young Saudis. To do this, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is rebranding the country and embarking on a massive social transformation that's liberalizing society, all while looking to the U.S. to maintain its role as security guarantor in the region.
This intertwining calculus was on display in the deals inked during Trump's visit to Riyadh. Trump called the crown prince an "incredible man" and said he wants to strengthen the bilateral relationship. "It is more powerful than ever before -- and by the way, it will remain that way. We don't go in and out like other people," Trump said.
The trip kicked off with the crown prince greeting the president with a handshake on the tarmac as Trump stepped off Air Force One. That's a departure from former President Joe Biden, who in 2022 avoided shaking hands with the crown prince on camera, instead giving him a fist bump.
That was viewed as a snub in the region, but at home was derided as capitulation after the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi — an operation that U.S. intelligence assessed had been approved by the crown prince. Biden had raised the issue of human rights during that trip, something Trump is not expected to bring up in conversation.
Trump said gains in the region can come from within, not through the interventions of "nation builders, neocons or liberal nonprofits" from the West.
He said a new generation of leaders in the Middle East was "transcending the ancient conflicts of tired divisions of the past" and defining the region "by commerce, not chaos, where it exports technology not terrorism, and where people of different nations, religions and creeds, are building cities together, not bombing each other out of existence. We don't want that," he said.
Trump's business-first approach with Saudi Arabia
This is very much a trip underpinned by big business deals, and drew a roster of who's-who to Riyadh, including Elon Musk, who runs Tesla and SpaceX, the CEOs of AI companies like Palantir and OpenAI, chipmaker Nvidia, as well as Google, Coca-Cola, Boeing and other major U.S. weapons manufacturers, as well as asset management firms like Blackstone and BlackRock.
Trump had announced Saudi Arabia as his first overseas state visit after a call with the crown prince in January, during which Prince Mohammed said the kingdom would invest at least $600 billion into the U.S. over the next four years.
The White House announced some of those pledges on Tuesday, including:
- $142 billion in arms deals from more than a dozen U.S. firms
- $80 billion in technology investments from Google, Oracle, Salesforce, Uber and Saudi companies in both countries
- $20 billion in AI data centers
- $14 billion in gas turbines from GE
- $14 billion in total to three sectoral funds for energy, defense and sports
- $4.8 billion in Boeing planes
- $2 billion in infrastructure services projects
During most of Biden's term, sales of precision-guided munitions had been paused over concerns about Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen. The Saudis now see an opportunity to upgrade all of their systems and for additional weaponry and more high-tech planes, said Elizabeth Dent, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
"They see Trump as a businessman, as a very transactional diplomatic character, who if you're willing to name the right price of investment into the United States, he is willing to make concessions that other American presidents likely would not have," Dent said.
The crown prince also wants to build a civilian nuclear program with U.S. technology, and those discussions are moving ahead under Trump.
That's something that had been tied to Saudi Arabia establishing relations with Israel, but the kingdom has been clear it will not move ahead with normalization without Israel stopping its war in Gaza and creating a pathway to Palestinian statehood. The current far-right government in Israel is rejecting both, and has been planning an even larger-scale invasion of Gaza amid a devastating blockade that is starving people there, according to the latest findings by independent experts on famine.
Trump said it was his "fervent hope, wish — and even my dream" for Saudi Arabia to normalize relations with Israel by joining the Abraham Accords. "I really think it's going to be something special. But you'll do it in your own time and that's what I want, that's what you want, and that's the way it's going to be," Trump said.
Trump's personal ties in the Gulf come into focus
Huge amounts of money from the Gulf have flowed into Trump's orbit since he was first elected president nearly nine years ago.
Just weeks ago, his son, Eric Trump, who runs the Trump Organization, was in the region for the launch of two new projects with a Saudi developer: A high-rise Trump hotel tower that will have the world's highest pool, and a sprawling Trump golf course with villas in Doha, Qatar. That's in addition to other Trump towers and projects underway in Saudi Arabia and Oman.
While president, Trump's investments and assets are in a trust managed by his children. Still, these deals and others have drawn criticism.
Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has previously secured a $2 billion investment from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund — overseen by the Saudi crown prince. It helped Kushner launch his private equity fund just months after leaving the White House where he was adviser to Trump in his first term.
Mamoun Fandy, director of the London Global Strategy Institute think tank, said these family business deals compromise the image of the office Trump holds.
"In the past, the presidency used to cost the president his financial well-being, if you will, that most people have to declare their assets and make sure they are separated from his office," Fandy said. "Now everything is conflated."
The latest gesture came from Qatar, which has offered the president a new Boeing jet to use while the aging Air Force One fleet is overhauled. When asked by reporters about this before heading to the Gulf on Monday, Trump said he appreciated the offer.
"I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer. I mean, I could be a stupid person and say, 'No, we don't want a free, very expensive airplane,' " he said.
The offer has drawn outrage by Democrats aghast at the suggestion of such a large gift from a foreign country.
Meanwhile, investments from the Gulf keep coming. The latest deal included the Trump family's cryptocurrency venture called World Liberty Financial. It's co-founded by Zack Witkoff, whose father is Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy to the Mideast. Just days ago, an Abu Dhabi firm used World Liberty's stablecoin to close a $2 billion investment into crypto exchange, Binance.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters it's ridiculous to even suggest Trump is making money off being president.
"He left a life of luxury and a life of running a very successful real estate empire for public service, not just once, but twice," she said.
Trump's high-stakes diplomacy includes Iran, Gaza, Syria and other hotspots
In his remarks, Trump did not speak extensively about the war in Gaza, where the health ministry says Israeli attacks have killed nearly 53,000 people, a third of them children. "The people of Gaza deserve a much better future, but that cannot occur as long as their leaders choose to kidnap, torture and target innocent men, women and children for political ends," Trump said.
Trump's team held direct talks with Hamas in Qatar, leading to the freeing of Israeli-American soldier and hostage, Edan Alexander, on Monday. His release from Gaza is putting pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to return in earnest to negotiations to end the war, and change course on his government's plans to permanently occupy the Gaza Strip.
Arab Gulf states also want to see Trump's team give adequate time to Iran for negotiations over its nuclear enrichment and missile program. There's still a lot of uncertainty around the talks.
"The administration has given very inconsistent signals about whether, ultimately, it would agree to an arrangement in which Iran would be able to continue domestic enrichment," said Daniel Shapiro, a fellow with the Atlantic Council and former deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Mideast.
In his speech, Trump said he wants to make a deal with Iran that would end its nuclear ambitions, but warned he would "inflict massive, maximum pressure" if Iran rejects a deal. "This is an offer that will not last forever," Trump said.
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