Trump Confirms Upcoming Trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE

The trip to Saudi Arabia is expected to focus on the country’s possible investments in the United States.

President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., on March 21, 2025. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images

President Donald Trump said on Monday that he will travel to Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern nations next month in what would be the first foreign trip of his second term since taking office in January.

“It could be next month, maybe a little bit later,” Trump said of his incoming trip to Saudi Arabia during a press conference in the Oval Office in Washington, without giving a specific date.

Trump said that the planned trip will include stops in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, as well as potential visits to other nations in the region.

The trip to Saudi Arabia is expected to focus on the country’s possible investments in the United States.

Trump said he anticipates up to $1 trillion in investments from Saudi Arabia during his incoming trip, which would be higher than the $450 billion during his first term.

“We partook [in] $450 billion worth of investments into American companies,” he said. “I view it as jobs more than anything else, and now we’re close to a trillion dollars. So it’s more than double the number that we did when I first came to office.”

Trump suggested that his visits to Qatar and the UAE would also focus on possible investments from those nations, as he noted that “tremendous jobs will be created in those two or three days” of his trip.

Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke to Trump via a phone call on Jan. 22, during which he congratulated the U.S. president on his inauguration.

During the phone discussion, Prince Mohammed said his kingdom plans to invest $600 billion in the United States over the next four years to boost trade relations. The crown prince said the investment may increase when more opportunities arise, but did not specify where the funding would be directed.

The White House confirmed the discussion, saying the two leaders also discussed efforts to bring peace and stability to the Middle East, bolster regional security, and combat terrorism.

Trump later said he would ask the crown prince to increase Saudi Arabia’s investments in the United States and “round it out to around $1 trillion.”

“I think they’ll do that because we’ve been very good to them,” he said at the World Economic Forum meeting on Jan. 23.

It is also unclear whether the trip to Saudi Arabia is related to Trump’s planned meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a cease-fire agreement to end the war in Ukraine.

Trump announced in February that the meeting could take place in Saudi Arabia, but the date has yet to be confirmed. He made the remarks after a phone call with Putin on Feb. 12.

“We ultimately expect to meet,” he told reporters at the time. “In fact, we expect that he‘ll come here, and I’ll go there, and we’re going to meet also, probably ... the first time we'll meet in Saudi Arabia.”

Saudi Arabia has acted as a mediator in the U.S.-led peace talks to end the Russia–Ukraine war. In March, Riyadh hosted crucial meetings between U.S. and Ukrainian delegations, which resulted in Ukraine agreeing to a cease-fire with Russia.

Trump had previously urged Saudi Arabia and OPEC to cut oil prices as part of efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine. The president said that Saudi Arabia and OPEC are “responsible to a certain extent” for the conflict.

Saudi Arabian Minister of Finance Mohammed Al-Jadaan told Bloomberg in January that the oil-rich nation already has active investments worth more than $770 billion in the United States. According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, Saudi Arabia accounted for 5 percent of total oil imports into the United States in 2023.

Austin Alonzo contributed to this report.