U.S. President Donald Trump pledged on Thursday to strengthen ties with the UAE and announced deals totalling over $200 billion. The two countries also agreed to deepen cooperation in artificial intelligence. The UAE announcements bring total investment agreements in the Gulf region to over $2 trillion.
The new deals with the UAE build on the previously announced $1.4 trillion investment framework in the U.S.
During his Gulf tour, Trump also signed major deals with Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Trump signed an agreement with Qatar to generate an economic exchange worth at least $1.2 trillion. Trump also announced economic deals totaling more than $243.5 billion between the United States and Qatar, including a historic sale of Boeing aircraft and GE Aerospace engines to Qatar Airways.
In Saudi Arabia, he secured a $600 billion investment commitment focused on energy security, the defense industry, technology leadership, and access to global infrastructure and critical minerals.
$14.5 billion aviation commitment
A key agreement signed during Trump’s visit to the UAE was between Etihad Airways, Boeing and GE Aerospace.
Boeing and GE Aerospace secured a $14.5 billion commitment from Etihad Airways to invest in 28 American-made Boeing 787 and 777X aircraft powered by GE engines.
With the inclusion of the next-generation 777X in its fleet plan, the investment deepens the longstanding commercial aviation partnership between the UAE and the U.S, fueling American manufacturing, driving exports and supporting 60,000 U.S. jobs.
$4 billion primary aluminum smelter project
In Oklahoma, Emirates Global Aluminum will invest in developing a $4 billion primary aluminum smelter project, one of the first new aluminum smelters in America in 45 years, that will create a thousand jobs in America, strengthen critical mineral supply chains, and double current U.S. production capacity.
In addition, RTX is partnering with Emirates Global Aluminum and the UAE’s Tawazun Council on a pioneering Gallium project that will help secure and stabilize the United States’ critical mineral supply chain.
By diversifying sources of this essential input for semiconductors and defense technologies, the partnership strengthens the U.S.’s supply security, supports high-tech manufacturing, and creates jobs across the critical minerals and defense industrial base.
Energy partnership expands
In line Trump’s executive order to unleash American energy leadership worldwide, ExxonMobil, Occidental Petroleum and EOG Resources are partnering with the UAE’s Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) for expanded oil and natural gas production valued at $60 billion that will help lower energy costs and create hundreds of skilled jobs in both countries.
Global Engineering Center in Abu Dhabi launched
During Trump’s visit to the UAE, Qualcomm expanded its global innovation footprint through partnerships with ADIO and e&. A new Global Engineering Center in Abu Dhabi will focus on AI, data centers and industrial IoT, advancing the UAE’s digital transformation while supporting U.S. research, engineering jobs and demand for American technologies.
Meanwhile, the collaboration with e& accelerates the deployment of advanced connectivity, edge AI, and cloud computing solutions.
UAE to launch Sovereign Cloud Launchpad
Furthermore, Amazon Web Services, e&, and the UAE Cybersecurity Council have launched a Sovereign Cloud Launchpad to accelerate public cloud services adoption in the UAE. The initiative is expected to contribute $181 billion to the UAE’s digital economy by 2033 and includes a new UAE cybersecurity technology Innovation center.
This collaboration expands demand for U.S.–developed cloud infrastructure and cybersecurity technologies, supporting high-skilled jobs in the United States and reinforcing U.S. leadership in secure digital innovation globally.
UAE to support American nuclear energy infrastructure
During Trump’s visit to the UAE, Holtec International and IHC Industrial Holding Company (IHC) also entered into a cooperation to build a fleet of Holtec’s SMR-300 small modular reactors, starting at the Palisades site in Michigan.
This agreement includes a commitment of $10 billion, and an additional $20 billion for fleet projects, helping to revitalize American nuclear energy infrastructure, strengthen domestic energy security, and create high-skilled jobs in engineering, construction and advanced manufacturing across the United States.
U.S., UAE ink AI agreement
The deals signed during Trump’s visit to the UAE strengthen the U.S.-UAE investment and trade relationship and build on the UAE’s landmark commitment to a 10-year, $1.4 trillion investment framework that will contribute to the U.S. boom in AI infrastructure, semiconductors, energy, quantum computing, biotechnology and manufacturing.
The U.S. and UAE also signed an AI agreement that supports the $1.4 trillion investment commitment secured in March. This includes the UAE committing to invest in, build, or finance U.S. data centers that are at least as large and as powerful as those in the UAE. The agreement also contains historic commitments by the UAE to further align their national security regulations with the United States, including strong protections to prevent the diversion of U.S.-origin technology.
The U.S.-UAE AI agreement strengthens bilateral investment partnerships, ensuring U.S. security interests and dominance in AI while extending the American tech stack to an important strategic partner.
Visit accelerates trade, investment ties
The UAE stands as a significant commercial partner for the United States in the Middle East. Bilateral trade and investment have flourished, with the UAE serving as a hub for American businesses seeking opportunities in the region. The UAE had $35 billion in foreign direct investments in the United States, supporting over 33,000 American jobs in 2023.
U.S. total goods trade with the UAE was an estimated $34.4 billion in 2024, with a U.S. trade surplus of $19.5 billion, the third largest in the world.
Trump’s historic visit to the UAE bolsters the two nations’ partnerships in technologies, health and life sciences, mobility, entertainment and many other fields, further supporting bilateral ties between the two nations.
