According to Al Jazeera and Reuters, the U.S. State Department has approved a defense offer of $100 million to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia was the first stop in President Donald Trump’s three-day trip to the Gulf States in the Middle East, with the Saudi Arabia trip occurring on May 13. According to Reuters, top defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin, RTX Corp, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and General Atomics are reported to be involved in the supply of advanced weapons systems.

The Pentagon stated that the Advanced Precision Kill Weapons System (A.P.K.W.S.) was approved in the defense offer. This system offers a laser-guided rocket that can hit both airborne and surface targets. The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of the possible sale of 2,000 A.P.K.W.S. and associated equipment and training.

The Pentagon stated: “The proposed sale [of A.P.K.W.S.] will improve the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s capability to meet current and future threats and give it the ability to precisely engage targets with much less risk of collateral damage than other guided missile systems. This proposed sale will support the foreign policy goals and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a partner country that is a force for political stability and economic progress in the Gulf Region.”

The defense sales between Saudi Arabia and the United States continued to be developed. The United States wants the Kingdom to have a normalized relationship with Israel, while Saudi Arabia wants more military capacity. Arms sales between the United States and Saudi Arabia are not uncommon. However, after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, arms sales decreased slightly in the Biden administration. Now, the focus on Saudi-Israel relations seems to outweigh sanctions for human rights. 

President Donald Trump arrived in Qatar, his second stop in the Middle Eastern trip, on May 14. President Trump is the first U.S. President to visit the country. The White House announced the United States and Qatar had signed deals worth $1.2 trillion. 

The White House Fact Sheet details “a few of the groundbreaking deals.” They include Boeing and G.E. Aerospace securing an order from Qatar Airways — a $96 billion agreement. This agreement includes Qatar Airways acquiring up to 210 American-made Boeing 787 Dreamliners and 777X aircraft powered by G.E. Aerospace engines. These aircrafts are efficient, and represent Boeing’s largest-ever widebody order. According to the Fact Sheet, the agreement will support 154,000 U.S. jobs annually, totaling over one million jobs in the United States during the course of production and delivery of the deal.

According to the Fact Sheet, “Quantinuum finalized a Joint Venture Agreement with Al Rabban Capital, a prominent Qatari company. Qatar will invest up to $1 billion in state-of-the-art quantum technologies and workforce development provided by the Joint Venture, supporting U.S. and Qatari jobs and leadership.” Quantinuum is a company specializing in computers that function via quantum mechanics. 

These deals demonstrate the importance the United States government has when dealing with international company signings. This originates from the New York Convention (The Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards), which created a private system of enforceable dispute resolution. This convention allows governments to be involved, internationally, in private businesses. 

According to Al Jazeera, U.S. Democrats raised suspicion about the President’s visit to Qatar. The weekend prior to his trip, President Trump was criticized over reports that the Department of Defense was going to accept a $400 million Boeing jet from Qatar. This gift would have been the largest of the presidency. Critics reminded the President about the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, which prohibits the federal government from accepting gifts from foreign governments without prior approval from Congress. However, the jet was not mentioned during the visit between President Trump and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on Wednesday.

According to Al Jazeera, before his departure for the United Arab Emirates, Trump said in a speech to U.S. troops at the Al Udeid Air Base southwest of Doha in Qatar that defense purchases signed on Wednesday were worth $42 billion.

President Trump’s last visit to the Middle East was May 15, in the U.A.E. with President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. According to the Economist, President Trump has stated the U.A.E. will invest $1.4 trillion into the United States, specifically technology, artificial intelligence, and energy. According to Al Jazeera, “The deal with UAE is expected to enable the Gulf country to build data centres vital to developing artificial intelligence models. The countries did not say which AI chips could be included in UAE data centres.” 

Reporting from Doha in Qatar, Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra said a deal had been “a national security concern” for Washington previously: “they decided to change their mind under Trump, particularly when the UAE said that it was willing to invest $1.4 trillion.”

The military defense deals with major Gulf states raise concerns of corruption and security. However, defense deals between the United States and the Middle East are not uncommon. It is uncommon to suggest the acceptance of a $400 million gift from the Gulf without Congressional approval. The Trump administration cut multiple soft diplomacy programs such as U.S.A.I.D., foreign funding (for education, infrastructure, or cultural awareness), and the Fulbright Program. However, Trump is heavy handed in funding military expenditures or utilizing resources to get funding. There is an apparent shift from soft power diplomacy to significant hard power diplomacy. The consequence of hard power diplomacy tends to be high cost, public opinion decrease (for the sending and receiving country), and limited long-term success. President Trump’s three-day trip may impact American diplomacy in the Middle East, and elsewhere, negatively.