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In Mideast, Trump finds his comfort zone: Business first, then policy

On his first international trip of his second term, President Donald Trump has indeed spent some of his four-day visit to Gulf Arab countries on diplomatic matters.

He met Wednesday in Saudi Arabia with Syria鈥檚 post-Assad-era President (and former Islamist rebel leader) Ahmed al-Sharaa, a day after pledging to lift punishing U.S. sanctions on the civil-war-devastated country.

Stating in an hourlong speech in Riyadh that the United States 鈥渉as no permanent enemies,鈥� Mr. Trump spoke of the potential for prosperous U.S.-Iran relations if Tehran turns away from decades of violent and destabilizing regional behavior.

And he has given some hints of a Middle East policy with a lighter U.S. footprint and reduced pressure on partners for diplomatic results. A comment in his Riyadh speech that Saudi Arabia will normalize relations with Israel 鈥渋n its own time鈥� was telling.

But for the most part, America鈥檚 businessman president has carried out his visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates like a business trip.

Pursuing his 鈥淎merica First鈥� orientation, the president announced hundreds of billions of dollars in contracts for U.S. defense industries and hundreds of billions more of Gulf investments in American artificial intelligence and microchip enterprises. (Notably, Mr. Trump鈥檚 billionaire emerging-technologies adviser and top donor Elon Musk was on the trip.)

鈥淧alace in the sky鈥�

But Mr. Trump also mixed America鈥檚 business and family business in ways no U.S. president ever has 鈥� and to an extent that has even raised alarms among some of his staunchest and most influential supporters. Widespread opposition to his acceptance of a $400 million jet 鈥� a 鈥減alace in the sky鈥� 鈥� as a gift from Qatar and under the pretense that it would serve as a new Air Force One, will greet him when he returns home Friday.

If President Trump chose to repeat his first-term innovation and make the Gulf the first international destination of his second term, regional experts say, it鈥檚 because that鈥檚 where the money 鈥� and a style of business Mr. Trump understands and emulates 鈥� is.

鈥淭rump sees the Gulf as a lot of countries with a lot of capital, with leaders willing to roll out the red carpet and host him in gilded rooms in a manner he believes he deserves,鈥� says Elizabeth Dent, a senior fellow and expert in U.S. foreign and defense policy in the Gulf at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. 鈥淎ll the deals he鈥檚 announcing fit with his 鈥楢merica First鈥� approach, giving him big flashy investments he can bring home and tout to his base.鈥�

In Qatar, Mr. Trump announced what he crowed is 鈥渢he largest order of jets in the history of Boeing鈥� 鈥� a Qatar Airways deal to buy up to 210 Boeing planes.

Meeting the Qatari emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, in the royal court building, the proprietor of the glitzy Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, surveyed the palace鈥檚 marble and complimented the emir: 鈥淭his is what they call 鈥榩erfecto,鈥欌�� he said.

President Trump again chose the Gulf 鈥渂ecause this is his happy place,鈥� says Jon Alterman, director of the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. With its glittering real estate 鈥渙wned by people with connections to the rulers, in the president鈥檚 mind [the Gulf] is the world as it should be.鈥�

Foreign policy outlines

Still, amid all the business fanfare could be discerned the outlines of an emerging Trump foreign policy that scales back commitments, resorts to military intervention rarely but with overwhelming force when applied, and sees foreign partners in terms of what they can do for America, some experts say.

鈥淭hey are advancing a more limited set of U.S. responsibilities, but using hard power more in carrying them out,鈥� says Daniel Benaim, a former deputy assistant secretary of state for Arabian Peninsula Affairs. 鈥淭hey are trying to do fewer things, but trying to do them more forcefully 鈥� and looking for partners to fill in the gaps.鈥�

As evidence, he points to Mr. Trump鈥檚 bombing of Yemen鈥檚 Houthis 鈥� a targeted military intervention the president ended once he said he鈥檇 received Houthi leaders鈥� assurances they would no longer target American-flagged cargo ships in the Red Sea and adjacent shipping lanes.

Underpinning it all are Trump鈥檚 鈥渢hree big legacy issues鈥� involving the Middle East, says Mr. Benaim, now an associate fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington. He lists Iran and reaching a new deal on its nuclear program, Saudi normalization with Israel, and an Israel-Hamas war ceasefire.

鈥淪ome [issues] have seen some progress鈥� even since the administration came in, Mr. Benaim says, pointing to initial U.S.-Iran talks, while 鈥淪ome [like Gaza] are even farther off.鈥�

The U.S. reportedly presented Iranian negotiators with a written proposal for a nuclear deal when the two sides met Sunday. Iranian officials denied the reports. President Trump said in Riyadh Tuesday that he had presented Iran with an 鈥渙live branch鈥� to resolve the nuclear issue, but said it was an offer that would 鈥渘ot last forever.鈥�

Saudi normalization with Israel also seems less imminent than it did in January, when many Trump aides were suggesting a region-realigning Saudi-Israeli rapprochement could be the administration鈥檚 first big foreign policy win.

The long-sought diplomatic breakthrough now seems to be on hold 鈥� largely because of Israel鈥檚 return to intense warfare in Gaza and the ever-darkening prospects for a two-state solution to the Palestinian issue, an outcome Saudi Arabia continues to demand.

To make, not impose, peace

Mr. Trump repeatedly cast himself as a peacemaker but not as a peace-imposer, repudiating his predecessors 鈥� Republican and Democratic alike 鈥� who sought to remake the Middle East in the West鈥檚 image and according to Western values.

Lauding Saudi leaders for achieving 鈥渁 modern miracle the Arabian way,鈥� he used his Riyadh speech to blast the 鈥渘eocons鈥� and 鈥渘ation-builders鈥� who 鈥渇ailed鈥� in 鈥淜abul and Baghdad鈥� and elsewhere.

鈥淚t鈥檚 crucial for the wider world to know this great transformation has not come from Western intervention or flying people in beautiful planes giving you lectures on how to live and how to govern your own affairs, no,鈥� the president said.

For some regional experts, Mr. Trump鈥檚 鈥渁ll business all the time鈥� approach to the Gulf states 鈥� and to Saudi Arabia in particular 鈥� in the early months of his second term is part of a reassuring shift from a more traditional vision of a close partnership that the first Trump administration pursued.

鈥淭he United States should have a normal relationship with Saudi Arabia. We don鈥檛 need to treat them as a pariah state as President [Joe] Biden sought to do at first,鈥� says Benjamin Friedman, policy director at Defense Priorities, a Washington think tank promoting a realist U.S. foreign policy.

But at the same time, he says, President Trump in his first term was 鈥渢oo close to the Saudis, giving them the sense they were a core ally we would henceforth intervene to defend,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 sense a more cautious approach [to the region] this term. It鈥檚 going to be, 鈥榃e do business with them, but we do not pledge to fight for them,鈥欌�� he adds.

Ethical issues

Yet while he supports what he considers to be Mr. Trump鈥檚 more realist defense relationship with the region, Mr. Friedman laments the weakening of a longstanding firewall between the nation鈥檚 business in international relations and the president鈥檚 personal business.

Citing not just Qatar鈥檚 gift of a $400 million jet but also billions of dollars of Gulf investments in a Trump family cryptocurrency venture, he says, 鈥淚t鈥檚 depressing to witness such a collapse of ethics and anti-corruption laws and norms.鈥�

Over the short week that Mr. Trump has been away from Washington, the saga of the 鈥減alace in the sky鈥� has become the focal point of a firestorm over the presidential family鈥檚 business dealings and susceptibility to influence-peddling.

Critics note that the plush jet would require a costly and time-consuming security upgrade and systems makeover that could mean it would only serve as President Trump鈥檚 Air Force One for a year at the end of his term 鈥� if at all. That means the jet, which Qatar would actually gift to the Trump presidential library, would essentially become Mr. Trump鈥檚 in his postpresidential private life.

All of this is proving to be too much even for some of the president鈥檚 most ardent supporters in MAGA world.

In his podcast on The Daily Wire this week, conservative commentator Ben Shapiro cited the taint of the jet deal and called on his listeners to honestly consider its implications. 鈥淚 think if we switched the names to Hunter Biden and Joe Biden, we鈥檇 all be freaking out on the right,鈥� he said.