Transcription
Let's go to the airport at Abu Dhabi. Um, and you can just see there, uh, President Trump, uh, about to board Air Force One.
Um, this is his final day of this whirlwind tour of, uh, the Gulf States. Uh, we've been hearing, haven't we, from our correspondents about the huge number of, uh, multi-billion pound deals that he's managed to secure while he's been there. I'm sure he's going to turn around and give us a wave and a salute. So our understanding is that he is boarding the plane, uh, and going straight back to Washington, D.C.
Of course, there has been much, uh, talk, conjecture about whether he might stop off in, uh, Turkey along the way. Um, but I think that is, from our correspondents, uh, according to them, it is unlikely. So Air Force One is likely to depart very shortly.
Of course, President Trump has been, uh, traveling with many CEOs. Huge numbers of, uh, of deals have been done between, uh, businesses in the U.S. and the Gulf States. Uh, let's have a listen to, uh, President Trump. He's been talking several times over the last few days. Let's have a listen to what he's been saying this morning.
"It's been an incredible, actually an incredible four days. It's, uh, I want to thank your family. Your family is so unbelievable. The job they've done and your father has been, uh, really incredible. The job they've done here is incredible and, uh, we've made it work. And you know, they were being wooed by others, but there's no more wooing. I think we're in pretty good shape. Absolutely. There's no more wooing. Uh, I've been friends with, uh, these leaders, three leaders in particular that we saw over the last three, four days, five days, and they're great people. They're great people and they love our country."
Well, our chief international correspondent Lee Ducet is in Abu Dhabi and spoke about the success of President Trump's trip. "This is an environment he feels totally comfortable with; the, uh, prominence of the family. These are not just president to president, president to emir, president to king ties. These are president family to family. His members of his own family usually travel with him. They're also making deals through President Trump's company. He loves the way that these Gulf monarchs are in complete control, that they're fabulously wealthy, also very ambitious. And you heard in those comments, uh, you know, the subtext there is all of these Gulf monarchs, um, have money to spend, power to wield, and they in recent years have been looking east and west. Not sure in recent years that they could really depend on the United States. So they have very good contacts with Russia, for example, with President Putin. And President Trump hinted at that. He goes, 'No more wooing now. I don't need to convince you to be on my side. You are on my side.'"
and that has been cemented in the way he knows best in those deals which are said to be in the sums of trillions of dollars that he's concluded at one stop after the other, including here, um, in Abu Dhabi. Also, defense contracts in Saudi Arabia, he signed what the White House said was the biggest sale of arms ever, um, in history. These countries know that they can get access to American markets, to the weapons they need and increasingly to the technology which was denied them. The UAE worked very hard to lift the restrictions from the Biden administration on the export of sensitive technology like AI chips. Now that's been lifted and the UAE is trying to position itself. It's already on the way to being a world leader in artificial intelligence.
"How do these business deals and clearly he's been very successful and like you say, you know, from both sides from from the Middle Eastern countries as well. How does this translate into diplomacy when you've got such huge issues in in Gaza? You've got the Iran, uh, nuclear program, all of these issues in the Middle East. Does the business relationship help with the diplomatic relationship?"
"Well, in some ways there's no direct link, but President Trump's, uh, mantra is peace through strength. He has poured scorn on not just the Biden administration, which he trashes at every term for ruining everything, but almost every administration before him in living memory. He's taken issue with what he calls the neocons, which of course were in previous, uh, Republican administrations behind the invasion of Iraq, part of the interventions in Afghanistan. He said the neocons, the nationbuilders, the liberals. He focused on on the western, the the the left and on the right and saying you all failed. And he says look at these Gulf these wealthy Gulf leaders. They've developed their countries in their own way. He believes that peace through strength is the strength of the American economy. Jobs, jobs, jobs back home. And so they are investing in huge sums in the American economy. Everything from aerospace to artificial intelligence to energy. They know that's what President Trump wants to see and they get something in return. But in ter but he also then solidifies these political relationships. He can pick up the phone to the emiratar and say you better put pressure on Hamas who you have been funding for years and tell them I want a deal. I want those hostages home. And he has had successes. He did get the last Israeli American hostage freed on the eve of his arrival in this region. But you've seen his last comments before he heads back to Washington. He says, 'Well, we're we're working on it. We're trying to sort Gaza. We're trying to sort Ukraine. We're close on Iran.'"
So, he's using his very personalized diplomacy. He believes that he's the world's best dealmaker. And he believes that it's because of his personality. There are many who say that you simp, you know, complicated files like the Ukraine file. We'll be watching closely today. These need a very very a very nuanced sense of history about the politics, understanding of President Putin. It's not simply, you know, the personal relationship, but this is President Trump and he's the man in charge.
And that was analysis from Lee Ducet there in Abu Dhabi. And, uh, as we watch Air Force One, uh, as it will begin its taxing very shortly, leaving Abu Dhabi after this whirlwind trip by, uh, President Trump. And we believe he is heading straight back to Washington, D.C., around the world and across the UK.