Trump touts ambiguous 'deals' as Middle East trip wraps up

President Donald Trump's trip to the Middle East featured bombastic proclamations of deals done and progress made, even as the details for many of the president's talking points remain unclear. He returns home this week after the high-profile, high-stakes tour that had him visit multiple Arab nations on the first international trip of his second term in office. Replete with splashy photo-ops and a roster of notable cameos, Trump stopped in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, skipping typical stops in allied nations like Israel and Turkey.

'Economic investments' over 'geopolitical strategy'

Trump's tour was "marked by pomp, opulent receptions" and "announcements of business deals with wealthy gulf states," said The New York Times. The "stated focus" of the trip was "trade and investment," The Economist said. The multi-billion dollar deals debuting alongside regional leaders "make for good headlines," even if "large chunks turn out to be illusory." Saudi Arabia, for instance, is "probably serious" about its investments in AI and sports but "may be less committed" to the $140 billion arms deal that nevertheless gave the superlative-loving Trump a "chance to tout the 'largest defense sale' in history."

The "optics" of Trump's visits helped showcase the "larger-than-life opulence of the region's richest petro-states," said CNBC, while demonstrating the extent to which those same nations want to "deepen their ties with the U.S. and advance their own economic agendas." Trump's trip "centered around economic investments, rather than broader geopolitical strategy," said Forbes. That was particularly true in light of the region hosting "multiple new projects by Trump's family businesses" as well. Broadly, the trip suggested a "shift toward transactional, less ideologically driven partnerships" in the region under Trump, Newsweek said. Eschewing stops in Israel and Turkey, which is set to hold peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, Trump's trip showed that his "loftiest targets — resolving the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine — remain elusive," NBC News said.

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'Fuzzy' math on Trump's investments claims

There is "some doubt" about whether the numbers touted by Trump regarding his various overseas deals are "realistic" given the oil market and "weaker revenue for crude-producing countries," CNBC said. Despite Trump's claims that he'd "secured more than $2 trillion in investment agreements" during his tour, "at least" half a dozen of the deals listed by the White House from this trip were announced "before Trump even took office," said The Washington Post. Even including those pre-existing agreements, the administration's claim of trillions in total deals involves "fuzzy" math that included announcements "made months before the trip." Many of the alleged agreement totals are "inflated" and "possible spending is counted as actual," said Justin Alexander, the director of Khalij Economics, to Reuters. Moreover, "most of the solid deals" heralded by Trump "would have happened irrespective of who was in the White House."

Trump "needs good headlines" lately, Al Jazeera said. "Tariffs are kicking in, the prices are going up," and Trump's promise to lower costs for Americans presents a "little bit of a problem" for the White House — hence the deal-touting when he returned from the Middle East.