Donald Trump continues his Jacksonian revision of international policy by substituting trade to war. This week, he is in the Gulf where he has managed to sign historic agreements with Saudi Arabia and Qatar, but has still not recognized the Palestinian state.

• US President Donald Trump delivered a speech at the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh on May 13. After recalling his speech eight years ago in the same room, in which he urged Muslim states to stop supporting terrorist organizations, he called for trade to be substituted to war. He sharply criticized “nation builders,” “neoconservatives,” “liberal NGOs,” adding that “In the end, the so-called nation builders wrecked far more nations than they built, and the interventionalists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves” and praised the vitality of the people of the Greater Middle East. He said: “As I have shown time and again, I am ready to end past conflicts and forge new partnerships for a better and more stable world, even if our differences may be very deep.” “In recent years, far too many U.S. presidents have been afflicted by the idea that it would be our duty to examine the souls of foreign leaders and use U.S. policy to dispense justice in place of their sins.” “If the responsible nations of this region seize this moment, if you put aside your differences, and focus on the interests that unite you, then all of humanity will soon be amazed at what they will see here in this geographic center of the world, the spiritual heart of its greatest religions.”

• On May 13, President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia signed the largest arms deal worth $142 billion. In addition, Saudi Arabia has pledged to invest even more in the United States until it reaches $600 billion. To sign these agreements, the United States withdrew its traditional demand for Riyadh’s recognition of the State of Israel.

• On May 14, US President Donald Trump and Qatar signed an agreement to generate economic trade worth at least $1.2 trillion. President Trump also announced commercial contracts totaling more than $243.5 billion, including a historic sale of 210 Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 777 X aircraft and GE Aerospace engines to Qatar Airways.

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