Tuesday Briefing: Trump’s visit to the Gulf
Good morning. We’re covering Trump’s visit to the Gulf region and the U.S.-China tariff rollback. Plus, a big week for the art world.
Trump’s Gulf tour is all about businessPresident Trump has always viewed the presidency as a worldwide hunt for deals. Today, as he is set to begin a four-day swing through Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, Trump has told his advisers that he wanted to announce deals worth more than $1 trillion. In place of any grand strategy will be a series of financial transactions that Trump will promote as producers of jobs for American workers. He is pushing Saudi leaders to invest $1 trillion in the U.S., a sum that economists say is unrealistic because it is equivalent to the country’s entire annual gross domestic product. Trump’s agenda conveniently aligns with his expanding business plans. His family has six deals pending with a majority Saudi-owned real estate firm, a cryptocurrency deal with a U.A.E. affiliate and a new golf and luxury villa project backed by Qatar. A questionable gift: The Qatari royal family is going to great lengths to court Trump, offering as a donation a luxury Boeing 747-8 plane that will be upgraded to serve as Air Force One. Trump angrily brushed off ethical concerns about the gift yesterday, saying that only someone “stupid” would turn down such an offer. Gaza: Hamas yesterday released Edan Alexander, the last living U.S. hostage it held in Gaza, portraying the gesture as an attempt to secure U.S. backing for a deal to end the war. Other Trump news:
U.S. and China temporarily slashed tariffsThe U.S. and China agreed yesterday that they would suspend their respective tariffs for 90 days and continue negotiations. Trump said he expected to talk to President Xi Jinping of China this week, but that a full deal would take a while. The White House appeared to back down as the costs of an all-out trade war threatened the global economy. It was another illustration of the limitations of Trump’s aggressive approach to trade. Following two days of talks in Geneva, the U.S. agreed to reduce the tariffs on Chinese imports to 30 percent from 145 percent while China lowered its import duty on U.S. goods to 10 percent from 125 percent. Global stocks surged after the announcement. Here’s what else to know. Latin America: This week, Xi is hosting Brazil’s president and other regional officials in Beijing to underscore that China intends to keep a firm foothold in that region. |
