President Donald Trump on Thursday pledged to strengthen US ties to the United Arab Emirates on a visit to the Gulf state that is expected to deepen cooperation on artificial intelligence.
Trump began a visit to the UAE on the latest stage of a tour of wealthy Gulf states after hailing plans by Doha to invest $10 billion in a US military facility during a trip to Qatar.
“I have absolutely no doubt that the relationship will only get bigger and better,” Trump said in a meeting with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
“Your wonderful brother came to Washington a few weeks ago and he told us about your generous statement as to the 1.4 trillion,” Trump said, referring to a UAE pledge to invest $1.4tn in the US over 10 years.
Trump was referring to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Sheikh Mohamed’s brother and the UAE’s national security adviser and chairman of two of Abu Dhabi’s deep-pocketed sovereign wealth funds.
“And all I can say is thank you very much,” Trump added.
“We will work very hard to deserve it.”
Sheikh Mohamed told Trump the UAE was “keen to continue and strengthen this friendship for the benefit of the two countries and peoples”, adding to Trump: “Your presence here today, your excellency, the president, confirms that this keenness is mutual.”
Before his departure for the UAE, Trump said in a speech to US troops at the Al Udeid Air Base southwest of Doha that defence purchases signed by Qatar on Wednesday are worth $42bn.
He was met at the airport in Abu Dhabi by Sheikh Mohamed, and the two leaders visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, its white minarets and domes, impressive in the late-afternoon light.
“It is so beautiful,” Trump told reporters inside the mosque, which he said had been closed for the day.
“First time they closed it. It’s in honour of the United States. Better than in honour of me. Let’s give it to the country. That’s a great tribute.”
The UAE’s leaders want US help to make their wealthy Gulf nation a global leader in Artificial Intelligence (AI).
The US has a preliminary agreement with the UAE to allow it to import 500,000 of Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips a year, starting this year, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
The deal would boost the UAE’s construction of data centres vital to developing AI models.
But the agreement has provoked national security concerns among sectors of the US government, and the terms could change, sources said.
At the presidential palace, Trump and Sheikh Mohamed could be seen in TV footage in conversation with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
Trump said he would probably return to Washington on Friday after a regional trip that began on Tuesday, although he said it was “almost destination unknown — because they’ll be getting calls, ‘could you be here? Could you be there?’”
Trump had hinted that he could stop in Istanbul for talks on Ukraine.
The two countries have finalised a technology framework agreement that was expected to be signed later on Thursday, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.
The agreement requires commitments on both sides to the security of technology, the source said, without immediately providing details.
