Tuesday Briefing: Trump’s Visit to the Gulf

President Trump left yesterday for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the first stop in his Gulf tour. Credit…Doug Mills/The New York Times

Trump’s Gulf tour is all about business

President Trump has always viewed the presidency as a worldwide hunt for deals. Today, as he is set to begin a four-day swing through Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, Trump has told his advisers that he wanted to announce deals worth more than $1 trillion.

In place of any grand strategy will be a series of financial transactions that Trump will promote as producers of jobs for American workers. He is pushing Saudi leaders to invest $1 trillion in the U.S., a sum that economists say is unrealistic because it is equivalent to the country’s entire annual gross domestic product.

Trump’s agenda conveniently aligns with his expanding business plans. His family has six deals pending with a majority Saudi-owned real estate firm, a cryptocurrency deal with a U.A.E. affiliate and a new golf and luxury villa project backed by Qatar.

A questionable gift: The Qatari royal family is going to great lengths to court Trump, offering as a donation a luxury Boeing 747-8 plane that will be upgraded to serve as Air Force One. Trump angrily brushed off ethical concerns about the gift yesterday, saying that only someone “stupid” would turn down such an offer.

Gaza: Hamas yesterday released Edan Alexander, the last living U.S. hostage it held in Gaza, portraying the gesture as an attempt to secure U.S. backing for a deal to end the war.

Other Trump news:

• Tech: The Trump administration is considering the sale of hundreds of thousands of A.I. chips to G42, an Emirati firm that the U.S. has scrutinized for its ties to China.

• Yemen: Here’s why Trump suddenly declared victory over the Houthi militia.

• U.S.: The top buyers of a Trump family crypto coin will win a dinner with the president.Some have entered the contest to try to influence U.S. policy.