Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news.
Speaker 2: President Trump is wrapping up the first major overseas trip
Speaker 2: of his second term. He visited Saudi Arabia, Cutter, and
Speaker 2: the United Arab Emirates. The President has used those visits
Speaker 2: to showcase his affection for making deals. The White House
Speaker 2: claims those three Gulf nations have made more than a
Speaker 2: trillion dollars in new economic commitments to the United States.
Speaker 2: President Trump has also surprised world leaders on the trip
Speaker 2: by deciding to lift sanctions on Syria and by having
Speaker 2: a face to face meeting with that country's interim president,
Speaker 2: someone who was previously an al Qaeda commander who had
Speaker 2: a ten million dollar bounty on his head.
Speaker 1: As I've shown repeatedly, I am willing to end past
Speaker 1: conflicts and forge new partnerships for better and more stable world.
Speaker 2: The UAE, Cutter and Saudi Arabia have rolled out the
Speaker 2: red carpet for Trump. There have been extravagant welcome ceremonies.
Speaker 2: Bloomberg's Jermani Borsecci, was in Saudi Arabia for the first
Speaker 2: stop on the president's trip.
Speaker 3: There is a sense of you have to greet your
Speaker 3: guests with respect, and obviously you're going to treat the
Speaker 3: individual who holds the highest office in the United States
Speaker 3: with the utmost respect, and so it was also an
Speaker 3: opportunity for them to pull out all the stops.
Speaker 2: F fifteen fighter jets have escorted Air Force one Arabian
Speaker 2: horses trotted alongside the President's motorcade.
Speaker 3: The Crown Prince Nbs himself personally greeted President Trump, breaking
Speaker 3: with protocol similar for the Emir of Qatar, even small
Speaker 3: touches in Katar, he had cyber trucks that was a
Speaker 3: nods at elon Musk obviously sort of circuiting his convoy
Speaker 3: as he made it into the center of town. And
Speaker 3: then these lavish banquets and ornate palaces, the gold, the marble,
Speaker 3: and all of that would have gone down very well
Speaker 3: with President Trump.
Speaker 2: I'm David Gerret and this is the big take from
Speaker 2: Bloomberg News today on the show, President Trump's four day
Speaker 2: trip to the Middle East, the deals He's done and
Speaker 2: says he's done, and Trump's plans to reshape the region.
Speaker 2: So this is President Trump's first major trip overseas in
Speaker 2: his second term. Why did he decide to go to
Speaker 2: the golf help US understand the significance of that decision.
Speaker 3: This was very significant for the golf countries. Countries like Qatar,
Speaker 3: the last time they received a visit from the US
Speaker 3: President was back in two thousand and three. In the
Speaker 3: case of UAE, it was two thousand and eight, and
Speaker 3: for Saudi Arabia, of course, it was twenty twenty two
Speaker 3: when Joe Biden came to visit and that was quite
Speaker 3: a contentious meeting. In the case of President Trump, there
Speaker 3: is a lot of goodwill towards the region, and I
Speaker 3: think from his perspective, he sendsed it as an opportunity
Speaker 3: to make deals, to forge further economic ties, but also,
Speaker 3: and this is the diplomatic angle, to take advantage of
Speaker 3: the fact that Iran is on the back foot and
Speaker 3: maybe re establish a regional presence alongside US's allies in
Speaker 3: the golf and those include the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Katar.
Speaker 3: From the golf country's perspective, For the Crown Prince NBS, obviously,
Speaker 3: this is a huge rehabilitation for him. He sort of
Speaker 3: weathered the storm of Jamal Kajokshi for a while was
Speaker 3: seen as a global pereia and in the past eight years,
Speaker 3: the country has undergone both the social and economic transformation,
Speaker 3: and this was Saudi Arabia's opportunity to showcase to the
Speaker 3: world what they've been doing with this Saudi vision.
Speaker 2: Let's start with the deals and the headline numbers. See
Speaker 2: massive So a six hundred billion dollar deal from Saudi
Speaker 2: Arabia deals with Cutter valued at more than two hundred
Speaker 2: billion dollars in talk of a broader economic package to
Speaker 2: the tune of one point two trillion dollars. How much
Speaker 2: of this is real? How much of this is sort
Speaker 2: of newly signed deals versus agreements in principle?
Speaker 3: Six hundred billion dollars was the headline figure that the
Speaker 3: White House put out after that bilateral meeting that took
Speaker 3: place between the Crown Prince and President Trump. Later on,
Speaker 3: Crown Prince MBS in a speech said that they're working
Speaker 3: to increase that figure to one trillion dollars of actual deals,
Speaker 3: though from what we understand, the nominal amount was three
Speaker 3: hundred billion dollars, and a lot of that was announced
Speaker 3: at this Saudi US Business forum that was being held
Speaker 3: in parallel. So many CEOs and industry leaders at City
Speaker 3: CEO Jane Fraser you had Black Rock CEO Larry Fink,
Speaker 3: you had Jensen Huang from Navidia. Those individuals all descended
Speaker 3: on Riot for that conference, and on the back of
Speaker 3: that we did get some signature deals. One of them
Speaker 3: is the largest defense deal in history per the White House, again,
Speaker 3: a one hundred and forty two billion dollar defense package
Speaker 3: in which Saudi Arabia has committed to buying arms from
Speaker 3: the United States. Also a lot of energy at MOUs
Speaker 3: Aramco doing about eighty billion dollars worth of partnerships with
Speaker 3: US companies. You had that big headline figure of one
Speaker 3: point two trillion dollars that was quote unquote economic agreement,
Speaker 3: but actually in terms of what is firm, we understand
Speaker 3: that number to be closer to around two hundred and
Speaker 3: forty billion dollars, of which and again another record breaking figure,
Speaker 3: because President Chump likes the record breaking numbers cuts, Our
Speaker 3: Airways has placed a firm order for up to two
Speaker 3: hundred and ten Boeing jets and that amounts to about
Speaker 3: ninety six billion dollars in nominal value. That is the
Speaker 3: largest order that Boeing has ever received.
Speaker 2: Well, let's talk about artificial intelligence. As you mentioned Jensen Kawanga.
Speaker 2: Nvidia was there. We saw the US relax restrictions that
Speaker 2: were put in place when President Biden was in the
Speaker 2: White House. What is that going to mean in real
Speaker 2: terms for companies like in Nvidia having those requirements relaxed
Speaker 2: and also these new deals that have been broken when
Speaker 2: it comes to AI chips.
Speaker 3: Well analysts in this space. We spoke to Dan ives
Speaker 3: some wet Bush. He thinks this is an absolute game changer,
Speaker 3: and the fact that these US chip makers are getting
Speaker 3: access to the Middle East, to these Gulf countries that
Speaker 3: have huge AI ambitions, that have the money to spend
Speaker 3: on investing data centers, actually opens up a new market
Speaker 3: to them, and you've seen that in the price action
Speaker 3: with some of these chip stocks this week. But I
Speaker 3: think the bigger noteworthy point to flag here is that
Speaker 3: the Trump administration is breaking with the Biden administration's diffusion rules.
Speaker 3: And what they decided was that these rules were too
Speaker 3: bureaucratic and that there were smarter ways to control the
Speaker 3: distribution of US chips, those high tech chips, but in
Speaker 3: a way that doesn't one hinder US's competitiveness on a
Speaker 3: global scale and two send their allies into the arms
Speaker 3: of Chinese technology, and so this is why in advance
Speaker 3: of this trip there was talk about the US weltering
Speaker 3: down those rules, and that's exactly what we're seeing.
Speaker 2: I want to ask you about the role that low
Speaker 2: oil prices are playing in motivating the kind of deals
Speaker 2: that we saw broker over the course of these last
Speaker 2: few days. So I know that Saudi Arabia has driven
Speaker 2: down oil prices to about sixty dollars a barrel, that
Speaker 2: of course stands to hurt the South the economy. Why
Speaker 2: is the crown prints of Saudi Arabia doing that? And
Speaker 2: how much pain can Saudi Arabia endure with oil prices
Speaker 2: as low as they are?
Speaker 3: Okay, this is a really good question because when I
Speaker 3: put that question to the Saudi Finance minister, he says,
Speaker 3: the whole purpose is to diversify our economy, our singular
Speaker 3: dependence on one hydrocarbon into other parts of the economy.
Speaker 3: And if you look at the numbers today, about fifty
Speaker 3: percent of Saudi's economy is still hydrocarbon reliant.
Speaker 1: The rest comes from.
Speaker 3: Non the non oil sector, which tends to be a
Speaker 3: fast growing sector and which also is the reason that
Speaker 3: so many of those investment firms are finding opportunities investment
Speaker 3: opportunities in Saudi Arabia right now. That being said, Saudi
Speaker 3: Arabia is missing on the annual FDI targets that they're setting.
Speaker 3: And this is the reason why it was actually the
Speaker 3: Ministry of Investment that organized that Saudi US Business summit
Speaker 3: because they want to attract more FDI into the country.
Speaker 3: Now when it comes to oil, yes, the fiscal break
Speaker 3: even level is somewhere closer to ninety dollars, it's not
Speaker 3: sixty and so in that situation, they are going to
Speaker 3: run budget deficits.
Speaker 1: And there are two ways that you can do that.
Speaker 3: You can either borrow more, which is what Saudi Arabia
Speaker 3: ha been doing, or you can spend less. And what
Speaker 3: has been happening in the past year is what they
Speaker 3: would say is a reprioritization of spending on these mega
Speaker 3: projects that you hear about, and that investment will have
Speaker 3: to go into more productive capacities.
Speaker 1: But ultimately this.
Speaker 3: Just means Saudi Arabia has gone from a position of
Speaker 3: being able.
Speaker 1: To splash out cash all over the world.
Speaker 3: To actually being a country that wants to direct investment inwards.
Speaker 2: After the break President Trump's broader strategic goals for the region,
Speaker 2: plus what his meeting with serious interim president could mean
Speaker 2: for the US's relationship with Israel. So let's turn to
Speaker 2: cut her down. This was the president's second stop on
Speaker 2: this trip, and the White House says it's cured more
Speaker 2: than two hundred and forty three billion dollars worth of
Speaker 2: deals there Cutter Airways as it's going to buy more
Speaker 2: than two hundred planes from Boeing. What does that agreement
Speaker 2: tell us about Cutter's priorities in the region and in
Speaker 2: the world more broadly.
Speaker 1: Cutter's priorities are twofold.
Speaker 3: Number one is also similar to Saudi Arabia, to project
Speaker 3: this image of a place where business can be done,
Speaker 3: of becoming another financial capital of the world. They've also
Speaker 3: been massively promoting tourism. If you look at their tourism numbers,
Speaker 3: they will tell you that the numbers are up. They
Speaker 3: got five million tourist last year. And so part of
Speaker 3: this is wanting to put Kutar on the map and
Speaker 3: for people to perceive them to be more than just
Speaker 3: an LNG exporter, which is what they're known for. But
Speaker 3: of course there's a diplomatic prerogative there and Cutter have
Speaker 3: played a huge role in regional diplomacy when it comes
Speaker 3: to speaking with Iran and its proxies, negotiating with Hamas
Speaker 3: with the release of the hostages, and so for them
Speaker 3: it is both economic and political.
Speaker 2: I mentioned Boeing, and let me stick with Boeing for
Speaker 2: a moment here, because there has been so much conversation
Speaker 2: in the United States about Cutter's offer of a Boeing
Speaker 2: seven forty seven for the President of the United States
Speaker 2: to use as air Force one. We've also seen headlines
Speaker 2: about the Trump famili's real estate investments in the Middle East.
Speaker 2: There are kind of swirling around this trip, a lot
Speaker 2: of questions about conflicts of interest and potential conflicts of interest.
Speaker 3: So let me just talk about that jets or what
Speaker 3: people are calling a flying palace. So this was supposedly
Speaker 3: going to be a gift from the royal family, nothing
Speaker 3: to do with Kutar Airways. But once the story broke
Speaker 3: a lot of controversy. The Qataris are saying that it's
Speaker 3: still under review.
Speaker 1: It's unclear.
Speaker 3: President Chump on his part, is saying that this was
Speaker 3: a government to government agreement. If it does go ahead,
Speaker 3: and that it would be eventually given to the Ministry
Speaker 3: of Defense or the Pentagon.
Speaker 1: But ultimately it does raise a lot.
Speaker 3: Of questions about the legality the ethics of the US
Speaker 3: president receiving such a monument gift from a foreign government. Equally,
Speaker 3: a lot of people have been talking about the fact
Speaker 3: that Trump Organization, which he has of course stepped away
Speaker 3: from in terms of running the day to day, they've
Speaker 3: also been in the region in the last few weeks,
Speaker 3: whether it's inking crypto deals in the UAE, or setting
Speaker 3: up Trump towers in Dubai, in Jeddah along the Red
Speaker 3: Sea the coast of Saudi Arabia, or even in Doha
Speaker 3: with plans to open up new golf courses. So there
Speaker 3: are business deals that are being struck with the Trump organization.
Speaker 2: We've talked a lot about the deals brokeer do on
Speaker 2: this trip, the economic underpinnings of this trip. I want
Speaker 2: to ask you about the president's kind of broader strategic goals.
Speaker 2: And there was this extraordinary moment where you had the
Speaker 2: Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia with President Trump and serious
Speaker 2: interim President. Help us understand the significance of that meeting
Speaker 2: taking place of a US president sitting down with somebody
Speaker 2: who was once linked to al Qaeda and was on
Speaker 2: most wanted lists here in the US.
Speaker 1: Honestly, it was quite unbelievable.
Speaker 3: It was really a historic moment, and probably the moment
Speaker 3: from this trip to witness those three standing side by side.
Speaker 3: It would have been inconceivable to think that that picture
Speaker 3: would have taken place six months ago, as you were
Speaker 3: getting towards the end of the assad regime. And even
Speaker 3: the fact that Syrian president, again rehabilitated president because he
Speaker 3: was once a Shihadi fighter, was standing next to the
Speaker 3: US president alongside the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, and
Speaker 3: it just tells you that the bigger picture here is
Speaker 3: what I referenced at the beginning, which is that the
Speaker 3: US administration and GCC countries Saudi Arabia sends an opportunity
Speaker 3: here to reshape the power dynamics in the Middle East.
Speaker 3: For so long Syria was under the stronghold of Iran,
Speaker 3: Lebanon became increasingly under the stronghold of Iran via Hezbalah,
Speaker 3: and now many months later they're all on the back foot.
Speaker 3: The Assid regime is gone, has a severely diminished Hamas
Speaker 3: is severely diminished, and therefore it is an opportunity for
Speaker 3: Saudi Arabia to exert its influence in the region and
Speaker 3: for the US to ensure that its allies in the
Speaker 3: GCC are the ones who are going to have further
Speaker 3: an increasing amount of diplomatic leverage. So that is the
Speaker 3: reason that President Trump came out with this big announcement
Speaker 3: in Saudi Arabia about the removal of possible removal of
Speaker 3: Syrian sanctions. And he also credited Coronference NBS and by
Speaker 3: the way, Turkish President Arduwan forgetting him to make that decision.
Speaker 2: Israel opposes this, and this is kind of where I
Speaker 2: want to end our conversation. Because President Trump is in
Speaker 2: the neighborhood, he very easily could have stopped in Israel
Speaker 2: on this trip. He's not doing that. What does that
Speaker 2: say to you about his broader strategic priorities at this
Speaker 2: point that he is not making a stop to visit
Speaker 2: one of the US's most long standing allies in the region.
Speaker 3: People are perceiving it to be a slight or a
Speaker 3: snub towards the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Natanna, who appears
Speaker 3: on some topics. There's a bit of daylight between the two,
Speaker 3: not least because one week before or President Trump's trip
Speaker 3: to the region, he sort of announced without anyone expecting,
Speaker 3: that there had been a truce agreed to between the
Speaker 3: US and Heaths and that the Houthies would no longer
Speaker 3: continue with their attacks on ships passing through the Red Sea.
Speaker 3: But by the way, Israel were not consulted on that. Similarly,
Speaker 3: the release of American Israeli hostage Isn Alexander one day
Speaker 3: before he came to the region. That was also negotiated
Speaker 3: via Kutar, but again with not a lot of Israel involvement.
Speaker 3: At the same time, the Israeli Prime Minister and his
Speaker 3: government have talked about pressing on and restarting operations in
Speaker 3: Gaza in a more intensified manner, but they have seemingly
Speaker 3: stole the decision to push further into the Gaza Strip
Speaker 3: while President Trump is in the region continuing with his tour.
Speaker 3: So one of the big questions here, and I would
Speaker 3: say just to end this, that there hasn't been a
Speaker 3: lot of talk about the CES far in Gaza. There
Speaker 3: was one comment that Present made during his speech in
Speaker 3: Saudi Arabia, where he said Palestinians deserve a better future,
Speaker 3: but then point to the blame at their own leaders
Speaker 3: for getting them to the situation that they're in right now,
Speaker 3: but nothing beyond that. So it's still a very delicate
Speaker 3: moment when it comes to the war in Gaza, and indeed,
Speaker 3: how Israel is going to be reacting to all of
Speaker 3: the developments that came through in the last few days.
Speaker 2: Jimani, you were covering this hour by hour, and the
Speaker 2: President did lay out in speech as a kind of
Speaker 2: grander vision for how he wants things to unfold, what
Speaker 2: he wants the Middle East to look like. Could you
Speaker 2: just synthesize that for us and maybe give us some
Speaker 2: indication of what he's thinking when it comes to Iran.
Speaker 1: I think he said at.
Speaker 3: One point in that speech, and by the way, I
Speaker 3: was in the room when he was speaking in Saudi Arabia.
Speaker 1: It is quite a long speech, but one.
Speaker 3: Point he did say, I don't like war, I don't
Speaker 3: want war, I want peace.
Speaker 1: I want to deal with Iran.
Speaker 3: But ultimately he wants to cut a deal with Iran, which,
Speaker 3: by the way, they'll probably end up in a city
Speaker 3: situation where the US Iran new nuclear deal will be
Speaker 3: very similar to the JCPOA deal that Obama put in
Speaker 3: place back in twenty fifteen, which President Chump famously pulled
Speaker 3: out of in his first term. Ultimately, I think he
Speaker 3: sees an economic opportunity in this region. These sovereign wealth
Speaker 3: funds are sitting on trillions of dollars worth of potential
Speaker 3: capital to deploy. He's a deal maker, he likes doing deals,
Speaker 3: and I would say he also likes accolades, and probably
Speaker 3: at the back of his mind, because it's President Chump,
Speaker 3: he's hoping and angling for one day to get the
Speaker 3: Nobel Peace Prize.
Speaker 2: Jamia, thank you very much, Thank you. This is the
Speaker 2: Big take from Bloomberg News. I'm David Gera. This episode
Speaker 2: was produced by Our deputy executive producer Julia Weaver, with
Speaker 2: help from Julia Press and Rachel Lewis Chrisky, who also
Speaker 2: fact checked in. This episode was edited by Patty Hirsch
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