President Donald Trump said the first presidential trip of his second term would likely include visits to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Qatar as well as additional stops.
“It could be next month, maybe a little bit later,” Trump said Monday in the Oval Office.
The president's remarks came after Axios reported that White House officials were planning Trump's first trip to Saudi Arabia in mid-May as a signal of appreciation for planned investment by the Gulf country in US industry.
On Monday, Trump said that he visited Saudi Arabia during his first term after a pledge of $450 billion in US investment - and that Riyadh had promised this time to more than double that amount with a $1 trillion promise.
“I view it as jobs more than anything else, and now we're close to a trillion dollars,” Trump said. “So it's more than double the number that we did when I first came to office.”
Trump notably did not mention the Saudi role in hosting negotiations over a possible summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin to halt the fighting in Ukraine. The US president has previously indicated the pair could hold talks there, but has expressed frustration in recent days with the pace of negotiations. Earlier Monday, Trump said he remained confident Putin would eventually back a ceasefire deal.
The UAE has also said it will invest up to $1.4 trillion in the US over the next decade if it is able to gain access to cutting-edge semiconductors, as part of the nation's push to build out its artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Trump did not give any indication of where the additional stops could be, though he has previously accepted an invitation from King Charles for a state visit to the United Kingdom.
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