United States President Donald Trump’s administration has reportedly discussed the possibility of expediting investments by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar before his trip to the region next week.
The early-stage talks were reported first by Bloomberg News. Any such development would require the US government to reform the Committee for Foreign Investment in the US (CFIUS), an interagency organisation led by the US Department of the Treasury, and which also includes representatives from the Departments of Commerce, Defense, Homeland Security and State that review foreign real-estate investments to evaluate if any prose a national security risk.
While it is not clear what a reform would entail, the goal would be to fast-track investments from these countries, with whom Trump had fostered a close working relationship during his first term, and bring in billions of dollars into the US economy.
The president might announce more information about the status of the changes and what it entails during his visit, which begins May 13.
Five of the top 10 most active wealth funds come from these three countries. Three of those five funds are in the UAE. In March, UAE National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed met the president and later committed $1.4 trillion in investments to the US over a 10-year period.
The commitment includes investments in sectors such as artificial intelligence, energy, and aluminium manufacturing, including the first new aluminium smelter in the US in 35 years. It also includes a $1.2bn mining partnership with Abu Dhabi-based ADQ, a sovereign wealth fund, and the New York City-based investment firm Orion Resource Partners to mine for “critical minerals” in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
The largest segment of the proposed investment is in artificial intelligence. An Abu Dhabi-based investment fund called MGX has promised to invest $100bn in a data centre and energy infrastructure to support AI development in the United States.
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