Middle East Country To Announce $17 Billion Investment In U.S. During Trump Talks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Bahrain’s crown prince is set to announce plans to invest more than $17 billion in the United States during a meeting with President Donald Trump on Wednesday, a White House official said.

As part of the investment, Bahrain is expected to sign a deal between Gulf Air and Boeing/GE valued at around $7 billion for 12 aircraft with an option for six more, the official said.

The deal also includes the sale of 40 GE engines, the official said.

The announcement from Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa comes on the heels of foreign investment deals Trump made during a trip to the Middle East in May.

During a visit to Riyadh, Trump secured a $600-billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the United States and agreed to sell the Saudis an arms package worth nearly $142 billion.

The White House official said the Bahrain deal will support 30,000 American jobs and was secured with help from Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Bahrain is expected to sign deals with Oracle and Cisco, with plans to replace Chinese servers with Cisco products, the official said.

Bahrain also seeks to increase its investments in U.S. energy, tech, and manufacturing sectors.

The official said the crown prince intends to deploy capital to increase U.S. domestic aluminum production, invest in U.S. LNG production to secure energy supplies, and purchase cutting-edge AI chips, partnering with U.S. hyperscalers.

The crown prince visited the White House twice during Trump’s first term.

During this visit, the crown prince will announce the kingdom’s intention to make these investments and sign various deals and memoranda of understanding.

One of these MOUs creates a framework for Bahrain to begin discussions towards developing commercial nuclear capabilities, the official said.

It was signed at the State Department by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani before the White House visit.

Later this year, the king of Bahrain will visit Washington to finalize these agreements and solidify the progress made in building the two nations’ economic prosperity, the U.S. official said.

(Reporting by Steve Holland; Additional reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Rod Nickel)