President Donald Trump’s recent tour of the Middle East sent a clear message that economic interests and deal-making lie at the heart of his foreign policy vision.
Trump spent four days in the Gulf from May 13 to May 16, visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, where he secured investment commitments worth trillions of dollars that will benefit U.S. businesses and jobs.
Although questions remain regarding how much of the pledged investment will materialize, the trip marked a strategic shift in Washington’s engagement with the Middle East. Trump drew a sharp contrast with past U.S. administrations, rejecting the interventionist foreign policy approach embraced by both Republicans and Democrats for decades.
Speaking at an investment summit in Riyadh on May 13, Trump openly criticized previous U.S. policies toward Iraq, Afghanistan, and other parts of the region.
“In the end, the so-called nation-builders wrecked far more nations than they built—and the interventionists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves,” Trump said.
the result of “Western interventionists” giving them “lectures on how to live” and how to govern their own affairs.
“No. The gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called nation-builders, neocons, or liberal nonprofits,” he said.
The speech received warm applause from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the audience, and it was one of the most talked-about events of his trip.
“It is not a secret that President Trump understands the political language of the Middle East more than any of his predecessors,” Dalia Ziada, senior fellow at the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, told The Epoch Times.
Ziada, an Egyptian political analyst based in Washington, said that Trump prioritized “building personal bonds of trust” with these leaders, rather than pressuring them on issues of democratization and human rights.
In the blistering heat of the Qatari desert, Trump addressed American troops at Al Udeid Air Base, reaffirming his commitment to “peace through strength” in the region.
“As president, my priority is to end conflicts, not start them,” Trump said.
The moment was rich in symbolism. More than 20 years earlier, President George W. Bush had spoken to U.S. forces in Qatar just months after the invasion of Iraq. He pledged that the United States would stand with Iraqi people “as they build a stable democracy and a peaceful future.”
Trump’s visit and message marked a deliberate departure from that era of intervention.
Al Udeid Air Base, located just southwest of Doha, Qatar, is the largest U.S. military installation in the Middle East. It played a significant role during the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, serving as the primary logistical and operational hub for evacuating tens of thousands of people.
What was striking during the Middle East trip was Trump’s “distancing himself completely from long standing American foreign policy and national security goals,” according to Joel Rubin, Middle East expert and former State Department official under President Barack Obama.
