7 takeaways from Trump’s Middle East trip

President Donald Trump flew back Friday from a whirlwind trip to the Middle East – investment deals in hand, a new bond with Syria forged, but still dogged by the familiar conflicts that have long hovered over the region.

His four-day trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates revealed a president with old habits – leaning into the fanfare and flattery and trappings of office – and new – a streamlined, goal-oriented agenda heavy on dealmaking and low on the chaos that engulfed his first term.

Still, some of the challenges across the globe proved too intractable for major breakthroughs this week, as Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas conflict, and nuclear tensions with Iran continued to provide a backdrop of instability.

Here are key takeaways from Trump’s visit to Riyadh, Doha, and Abu Dhabi.

‘Commerce not chaos’
As he traveled from Riyadh to Doha to Abu Dhabi this week, the president fully embraced the transactional nature of his foreign policy agenda and world view.
“A new generation of leaders is transcending the ancient conflicts and tired divisions of the past and forging a future where the Middle East is defined by commerce, not chaos,” Trump said during a speech in Saudi Arabia. He issued a call for “technology, not terrorism, where people of different nations, religions and creeds are building cities together – not bombing each other out of existence.”

Those blunt words brought his foreign policy objectives into sharper focus, and it became even more clear when Trump announced he was making a major change in US foreign policy and dropping sanctions against Syria “to give them a chance at greatness.”

“It’s their time to shine,” Trump said. “We’re taking them all off. Good luck Syria, show us something very special.”

There were no caveats in Trump’s remarks and none expressed a day later when he became the first US president in 25 years to hold a face-to-face meeting with a Syrian leader.

By week’s end, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sought to clarify the US position. He said the administration would start by issuing a temporary waiver of some Syria sanctions. A permanent repeal, he said, would come later in a request to Congress.

“We’re not there yet,” Rubio said. “That’s premature.”

Source: CNN