Day: May 15, 2025

Donald Trump has begun his first official trip of his second term by signing a $142 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia.



The White House described the agreement as ‘the largest defence cooperation deal in history’ between the two countries. The package involves more than a dozen US companies in key sectors such as air defence, missiles and advanced technology. It also provides for collaboration between the Saudi Interior Ministry and the FBI, extending security cooperation beyond the military sphere.

One of the biggest surprises of the trip was Trump’s announcement that all US sanctions on Syria would be lifted. This move represents a drastic shift in Washington’s policy after more than a decade of isolating Damascus, which began with the civil war under Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Now, with Assad’s fall and a new government in charge, Trump declared that the time has come to ‘give them a chance at greatness.’



The president even met with the new Syrian president, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, at the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit, despite the fact that he was previously designated a terrorist for his links to al-Qaeda. Although the decision has caused discomfort within some sectors of his administration and opposition from allies such as Israel, Trump said he made the decision after being encouraged by Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

During the event, it was announced that Nvidia will sell more than 18,000 artificial intelligence chips to the Saudi company Humain, in line with the kingdom’s efforts to diversify its economy beyond oil.



In addition to the arms deal, a Saudi investment commitment in the United States of up to $600 billion was highlighted, in what Trump described as ‘the rebirth of American wealth.’ In his view, economic development is the key to stabilising the region. ‘A new generation of leaders is overcoming old conflicts and forging a future where the Middle East is defined by commerce, not chaos,’ he explained.

Trump also claimed that Washington had defeated the Houthis in Yemen militarily after more than 1,100 air strikes, declaring that their mission had been accomplished and that troops had withdrawn after ‘achieving what they set out to do.’



Trump’s trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates sets the tone for his foreign policy in his second term: massive economic deals, reconciliation with former adversaries and an attempt to consolidate his image as the architect of a new order in the Middle East.