The Trillions of Dollars of U.S. Investment at Stake in the Gulf

WSJ via archive.ph

Last year, the richest countries in the Persian Gulf pledged to pump trillions of dollars of investment into the U.S. in a bid to charm President Trump and strengthen ties.

Today that warm financial embrace is suddenly under stress.

“Who gave you the authority to drag our region into a war?” prominent Dubai businessman Khalaf Al Habtoor asked Trump in a post on X Thursday. The president, he said, placed the Gulf states “at the heart of a danger they did not choose.”

Before the war broke out, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar had been behind a surge of U.S. investment, publicly embracing Trump closer than any U.S. president in recent history through use of their deep pockets.

The three countries’ massive pledges—over $3 trillion between them—were used by Trump to demonstrate a flood of investment coming to the U.S. The countries had become go-to sources of funding for various Trump priorities ranging from AI initiatives to a rebuilding plan for Gaza.

The conflict “raises new questions about the Gulf countries’ capability and interest in investing in the U.S.,” said Rachel Ziemba, an adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a Washington-based think tank.

If it persists, Ziemba said, the conflict could shake up the countries’ own finances—reducing revenue from oil and gas while prompting them to spend more on defense. The result could mean less cash to splash abroad.

Soon after arriving back in the White House last year, Trump found willing partners in the Gulf monarchies. His first major foreign trip was in a spring 2025 visit to the three states, where pledges of investment were sandwiched between grandiose welcomes on red and lavender-colored carpets and splashy dinners. 

Since, financial dealings with the Gulf have only grown, such as a planned Disneyland theme park in Abu Dhabi and the donation of a jumbo jet from Qatar.

Businesses including private-equity firm Blackstone BX -4.56%decrease; red down pointing triangle and software maker Cisco Systems CSCO -1.37%decrease; red down pointing triangle pledged investments in data centers around the Gulf.

Trump’s family business and close associates have struck a number of deals there, too, raising money for crypto and private-equity ventures. Trump-branded residential towers and luxury golf courses are poised to appear in Qatar, Jeddah, Riyadh and Dubai.

The Gulf countries’ sovereign-wealth funds have been behind a series of high-profile acquisitions of giant companies, including the Saudi-backed $55 billion buyout of videogame maker Electronic Arts and an Abu Dhabi fund’s deal to acquire advertising companyClear Channel Outdoor Holdings. Funds from all three countries had backed Paramount Skydance’s effort late last year to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery.

Just how the conflict might affect the flow of money depends on how it unspools, but economists have begun to downgrade their forecasts for the region. 

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