Gulf leaders count takeaways from Trump trip at Qatar summit

After committing more than $2.7 trillion in U.S. investments over the next decade while President Donald Trump toured the region last week, Gulf financial leaders are starting to connect the dots on what that will mean for their economies.

Analysis of the Trump trip was center stage today at the Qatar Economic Forum, where cabinet ministers and investors dissected last week’s events in Doha, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi – from U.S. tariffs and gas prices to Qatari airplanes.

Qatar Investment Authority CEO Mohammed Al Sowaidi, said the sovereign wealth fund expects to at least double its spending in the U.S. compared to the past five or six years.

“We believe in the growth and robustness of the U.S. system,” Al Sowaidi said during the first day of the three-day conference.

The QIA chief said last week that Qatar would invest an additional $500 billion in the U.S. over the next 10 years, focusing on artificial intelligence, data centers and health care, according to Bloomberg, the chief media partner for the conference which was underwritten by the Qatari government.

Earlier, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani defended the government’s decision to give the U.S. a Boeing 747 jumbo jet to replace the 40-year-old Air Force One aircraft that has been the subject of Trump’s complaints.

“I don’t know why people consider it as bribery or Qatar trying to buy influence with this administration,” he told the forum, calling it a routine transaction between nations. “We need to overcome this stereotype.”