Wednesday marked the halfway point in Trump\u2019s four-day trip, which included an opening stop in Saudi Arabia and will conclude on Thursday in the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n
As with his other visits, Trump underscored warming relations and expanding business ties during his meetings with leaders from Syria and Qatar. But back home in the US, the Democratic Party raised concerns about how the Republican leader\u2019s personal interests might be guiding his closed-door conversations.<\/p>\n
Here are five key takeaways from Wednesday\u2019s meetings and stops.<\/p>\n
![\"Trump](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/AP25134357481214-1747238155.jpg\")
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman shakes hands with Syria\u2019s President Ahmad al-Sharaa as Donald Trump looks on [Bandar Aljaloud\/Saudi Royal Palace via AP]
\nA high-profile meeting in Saudi Arabia<\/p>\n
Before setting off for Qatar, Trump took one of the most highly anticipated meetings of his entire trip: a sit-down with Syrian President al-Sharaa.<\/p>\n
It was the first time in nearly a quarter century that the top leaders from Syria and the US met face to face. And the meeting was extraordinary for a number of reasons: Until December, the US had offered a $10m reward for al-Sharaa\u2019s capture.<\/p>\n
It continues to list Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the armed group al-Sharaa led during Syria\u2019s civil war, as a \u201cforeign terrorist organisation\u201d, due to its past ties with al-Qaeda.<\/p>\n
But since a coalition led by HTS toppled the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December, the US has been reevaluating its relationship with the group and its leadership.<\/p>\n
The toppling of al-Assad\u2019s government brought an end to Syria\u2019s nearly 13-year-long civil war, and al-Assad \u2014 long accused of human rights abuses \u2014 fled to Russia.<\/p>\n
In the lead-up to Wednesday\u2019s meeting with al-Sharaa, Trump announced that he would lift the sanctions against Syria put in place during al-Assad\u2019s leadership, a development that al-Sharaa\u2019s government praised as an economic boon and a step towards stability.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, al-Sharaa joined Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman for an in-person meeting, while Turkiye\u2019s President Recep Erdogan joined by phone.<\/p>\n
Trump \u201ctold President Al-Sharaa that he has a tremendous opportunity to do something historic in his country\u201d, according to a read-out<\/a> from the White House. He also encouraged Syria to expel \u201cforeign terrorists\u201d and \u201cPalestinian terrorists\u201d from its borders, as well as normalise relations with Israel.<\/p>\n The read-out added that al-Sharaa said he shared the US\u2019s interests in \u201ccountering terrorism and eliminating chemical weapons\u201d. He also encouraged the US to invest in Syria\u2019s petroleum sector.<\/p>\n Later, as he boarded Air Force One for Qatar, reporters asked Trump to share his first impressions of al-Sharaa.<\/p>\n \u201cGreat. I think very good. Young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter. He\u2019s got a real shot at pulling it together,\u201d Trump replied.<\/p>\n Pomp and circumstance have greeted Trump throughout his Middle East trip so far, and his arrival in Qatar was no exception.<\/p>\n Even before Air Force One touched down in the Qatari capital of Doha, the pageantry of the visit \u2014 Trump\u2019s first international tour of his second term \u2014 was on full display.<\/p>\n As he entered Qatar\u2019s airspace, White House Communications Adviser Margo Martin posted video<\/a> online of F-15 fighter jets on either side of Air Force One, \u201cproviding honorary escort\u201d to the president.<\/p>\n A red carpet greeted Trump as he touched down in Qatar. The country\u2019s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani was on hand to welcome him. And a ceremonial guard, riding atop white horses and camels, trotted alongside his motorcade as he was transported to the site of his state visit.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re extremely honoured to have you here. We\u2019re very excited, very happy. It\u2019s a historic visit,\u201d Al Thani said. \u201cI don\u2019t know if you know that you\u2019re the first American president to officially visit Qatar. So we\u2019re very honoured.\u201d<\/p>\n Al Jazeera\u2019s White House correspondent Kimberly Halkett, who has been following the US president\u2019s journey, said the opulence of Trump\u2019s tour so far has been a selling point to his domestic audiences.<\/p>\n \u201c\u200aAmericans loved the pomp and pageantry. They found it interesting to see the state dinner with the camels and to see some of the tea and coffee ceremonies,\u201d Halkett said.<\/p>\n Even Trump marvelled at the decor inside the Amiri Diwan, the government centre of Qatar, calling the marble \u201cperfect-o\u201d.<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s White House has described the president as the \u201cdealmaker in chief\u201d, and each stop so far on his four-day tour has culminated in the announcement of a major business deal with the US.<\/p>\n Wednesday\u2019s visit to Qatar was no exception.<\/p>\n The White House announced that the US and Qatar had inked deals worth at least $1.2 trillion, including a major transaction which would see Qatar Airways buy 210 aircraft from the US company Boeing.<\/p>\n That deal alone was worth $96bn, according to a government fact sheet<\/a>. Still, that was an adjustment downward from a higher figure Trump mentioned during the trip, $200bn.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the largest order of jets in the history of Boeing. That\u2019s pretty good,\u201d Trump said as he signed documents alongside Emir Al Thani.<\/p>\n In a gesture to his fellow leader, Trump added: \u201c\u200aWe\u2019ve been friends for a long time, long before politics.\u201d<\/p>\n Other parts of the deal included purchases of drone and anti-drone technology from US defence companies like Raytheon and investments in the US energy sector.<\/p>\n \u201cI think, after signing these documents, we are going to another level of relationship between Qatar and the United States,\u201d Al Thani said, thanking Trump.<\/p>\n While Trump emphasised his warm relationships with Gulf allies like Qatar, he offered more pointed remarks to another powerful force in the region: Iran.<\/p>\n Since April 12, the US has engaged with near-weekly negotiations<\/a> with Iran, the most recent of which took place last weekend in Oman<\/a>.<\/p>\n The subject of the talks has been curtailing Iran\u2019s nuclear programme. Trump has insisted he would like to prevent Iran from ever acquiring a nuclear weapon, though the government in Tehran has long denied any such ambition.<\/p>\n Speaking at a state dinner in Qatar\u2019s Lusail Palace, Trump put pressure on Iran to bring the negotiations to a close.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have to get moving,\u201d Trump said from his podium at the end of the table.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to see Iran thrive, do well, be successful, be happy. I know many Iranians living in New York and Washington, DC. They\u2019re great people. And we want to have this end peacefully, not horribly,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n While Trump has repeatedly signalled optimism that a deal can be reached, he did hint that tensions between Iran, the US and countries like Israel could spiral out of control.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a perilous situation, and we want to do the right thing,\u201d Trump said. \u201cWe want to do something that\u2019s going to save maybe millions of lives.\u201d<\/p>\n During his first term, Trump pulled the US out of a 2015 deal that gave Iran sanctions relief in exchange for limiting its nuclear programme.<\/p>\n Back in the US, Trump\u2019s stop in Qatar continued to raise eyebrows among his critics, particularly in the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n The weekend before his trip, Trump faced controversy over reports that his Department of Defence would accept a luxury Boeing jet worth $400m from Qatar, dubbed a \u201cpalace in the sky\u201d.<\/p>\n Such a gift would have been one of the largest in the history of the presidency. And critics warned it raised ethical and legal concerns, given the Constitution\u2019s Emoluments Clause, which prohibits the federal government from accepting gifts from foreign governments without prior approval from Congress.<\/p>\n Still, Trump defended the idea on social media. He called the plane a \u201cGIFT, FREE OF CHARGE\u201d that was made \u201cin a very public and transparent transaction\u201d.<\/p>\n He also walked back media reports that he would use the aircraft as personal transport after leaving office. Sources indicated the plane was likely to be decommissioned after Trump left office and sent to his presidential library.<\/p>\n Ultimately, in Wednesday\u2019s meeting with Emir Al Thani, the jet was not mentioned. It is unclear whether the exchange will continue.<\/p>\n The Democratic National Committee nevertheless announced it planned to fly a banner over Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida to coincide with his Qatar visit, emblazoned with the phrase \u201cQatar-a-Lago\u201d.<\/p>\n Journalists on Air Force One pressed the president about another potential conflict of interest.<\/p>\n One reporter asked Trump about a deal that would see an investment firm in the United Arab Emirates \u2014 the next stop on his tour \u2014 buy large sums of cryptocurrency from a company run by his family. The deal is reportedly worth $2bn.<\/p>\n \u201cI really don\u2019t know anything about it,\u201d Trump replied. \u201cBut I\u2019m a big crypto fan. I will tell you, I\u2019ve been that from the beginning, right from the campaign. I\u2019m a believer in crypto.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump is scheduled to travel to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, before returning to the US on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald Trump has continued his tour of the Middle East with a stop in Qatar, marking the first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102452,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12633,32,1700,1234,3058,839,12,285,6860,6506,1219,49,286,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-102451","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-business-and-economy","9":"tag-donald-trump","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-government","12":"tag-international-trade","13":"tag-middle-east","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-politics","16":"tag-qatar","17":"tag-saudi-arabia","18":"tag-trade-war","19":"tag-united-states","20":"tag-us-canada","21":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114509678144836776","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102451","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102451"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102451\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102451"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102451"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102451"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Donald](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/AP25134415770648-1747236374.jpg\")
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters on board Air Force One as he flies to Doha [Alex Brandon\/AP Photo]
\nA red-carpet arrival in Qatar<\/p>\n![\"Trump](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/AP25134465171044-1747236401.jpg\")
President Donald Trump and Qatar\u2019s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani walk past Qatari honour guard\u00a0 in Doha, Qatar [Alex Brandon\/AP Photo]
\nA deal to boost trade and defence<\/p>\n![\"Emir](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/AP25134469124898-1747236410.jpg\")
Qatar\u2019s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani welcomes President Donald Trump during an official welcoming ceremony on May 14 [Alex Brandon\/AP Photo]
\nTrump issues warnings for Iran<\/p>\n![\"Donald](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/AP25134686778970-1747256674.jpg\")
President Donald Trump speaks during a state dinner at Lusail Palace in Doha, Qatar [Alex Brandon\/AP Photo]
\nDemocrats criticise conflicts of interest<\/p>\n