US President Donald Trump claimed he was able to secure deals totaling more than US$2 trillion for the US during his May tour of the Gulf states. Trump said, “there has never been anything like” the amount of jobs and money these agreements will bring to the US.
However, providing a lift for the US economy wasn’t the only thing on Trump’s mind. China’s influence in the wider Middle East region is growing fast – so much so that it was even able to mediate a detente between bitter regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran in 2023.
Trump’s attempt to strengthen ties with countries in the Middle East is probably also a deliberate attempt to contain China’s growing regional ambitions.
China has spent the past two decades building up its economic and political relations with the Middle East. In 2020, it replaced the EU as the largest trading partner to the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Bilateral trade between them was valued at over $161 billion.
The Middle East has also become an important partner to China’s sprawling Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Massive infrastructure projects in the region, such as high-speed railway lines in Saudi Arabia, have provided lucrative opportunities for Chinese companies.
The total value of Chinese construction and investment deals in the Middle East reached $39 billion in 2024, the most of any region in the world. That year, the three countries with the highest volume of BRI-related construction contracts and investment were all in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia, Iraq and the UAE.
China has also strengthened its financial cooperation with Middle Eastern countries, particularly the UAE and Saudi Arabia. As part of China’s efforts to reduce global reliance on the US dollar for trade, it has arranged cross-border trade settlements, currency swap agreements, and is engaging in digital currency collaboration initiatives with these countries.
American security guarantees have historically fostered an alignment between the Gulf states and the West. The string of agreements Trump signed with countries there reflects an attempt to draw them away from China and back towards Washington’s orbit.
Countering China
One of the more significant developments from Trump’s trip was an agreement to deepen US technological cooperation with the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The US and UAE announced they would work together to construct the largest AI data center outside of the US in Abu Dhabi.
Technology is one of the key areas where China has been trying to assert its influence in the region. Through Beijing’s so-called “Digital Silk Road” initiative, which aims to develop a global digital ecosystem with China at its center, Chinese firms have secured deals with Middle Eastern countries to provide 5G mobile network technology.
Chinese tech giants Huawei and Alibaba are also in the process of signing partnerships with telecommunications providers in the region for collaboration and research in cloud computing. These companies have gained traction by aligning closely with national government priorities, such as Saudi Arabia’s initiative to diversify its economy through tech development.
American companies, including Amazon, Microsoft and Google, have spent years building regional tech ecosystems across the Gulf. Trump is looking to recover this momentum. He was joined in the Middle East by more than 30 leaders of top American companies, who also secured commercial deals with their peers from the Gulf.
US quantum computing company Quantinuum and Qatari investment firm Al Rabban Capital finalized a joint venture worth up to a $1 billion. The agreement will see investment in quantum technologies and workforce development in the US and Qatar.
There are two other areas where Trump is trying to cut off China. American companies and Abu Dhabi’s state-run oil firm agreed a $60 billion energy partnership. China is heavily dependent on the Middle East for energy, with almost half of the oil it uses coming from the region. Greater alignment with the US could hamper Beijing’s ability to secure the resources it needs.
Trump also signed a raft of defense deals with Qatar and Saudi Arabia. These included a $1 billion deal for Qatar to acquire drone defense technology from American aerospace conglomerate Raytheon RTX, and a $142 billion agreement for the Saudis to buy military equipment from US firms.
These moves underscore Washington’s intention to limit China’s influence in key defense sectors. China is a key player in the global market for commercial and military drones, providing Saudi Arabia and the UAE with a large share of their combat drones.
One final aspect of Trump’s trip was his brief meeting with Syria’s interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa. Trump signaled possible sanctions relief, which has since come into effect. This constituted more than a diplomatic thaw.
With China positioning itself as a regional mediator and Russia struggling with a diminished role following the fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria, the US is looking to reassert itself as the primary power broker in the region.
Maria Papageorgiou is Leverhulme Early Career Researcher, School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
It’s always fascinating to see how China buys “love” of other countries that don’t share a border with China. The BRI, or more precisely the debt trap, is China’s attempt to buy love. Those who fall into the debt trap become concubines of the Yellow Emperor Xi. Sri Lanka, deeply mired in China’s debt trap, is remorsefully trying to return to India. Duterte’s flirtation with China didn’t help Filipino fishermen. The Philippines turn back to the US. Vietnam, despite all the mutual expressions of affection, has its eye on its old foe’s F16 instead of its lover’s J10. The list of sour loves is long.
Better to buy love with BRI than to destroy lives by bombing them in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Libya, Vietnam…or sponsoring state genocide in Gaza.
You are also intellectually lazy talking about Sri Lanka so-called debt trap. Sri Lanka owes more money to the West than China. They leased the port of Hambantota to China willingly to pay for loan repayments to various debtors, of which China is only one. That is not a debt trap but conservative financial management.
Oh dear, the West has run out of countries to plunder. People have wised up. 500 years of being global parasites is coming to an end.
Have you ever wondered why Pakistanis, Indians, even Chinese, and the rest of the world are so keen to (illegally) sneak into the US or the EU and NOT into the benevolent, highly developed China? I already know your stereotypical answer, so you don’t bother to reply.
China is not a welfare state that tries to braindrain the world