Announced by US President Donald Trump during the last leg of his three-nation trip to the Gulf region, the agreement entails the creation of extraction and refining capabilities of gallium at EGA’s alumina refinery. It will make the UAE the world’s second-largest gallium producer behind China. Gallium is an important metal for the most advanced electronics systems but remains commercially challenging to produce (Read more at Defense Post)
U.S. congressional Democrats on Thursday sought to block arms sales to the United Arab Emirates over its alleged involvement in Sudan's civil war and concern about cryptocurrency ties, the same day Republican President Donald Trump announced $200 billion in new deals with the Gulf State. Democrats Chris Murphy, Chris Van Hollen, Brian Schatz and Tim Kaine, and Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, introduced resolutions of disapproval in the Senate that would block three arms sales to the UAE (Read more at Reuters).
The agreement comes as part of more than $200 billion in trade deals between the US and the UAE. According to a White House statement, Etihad Airways has agreed to purchase 28 US-made Boeing aircraft – including the next-generation Boeing 787 and 777X models – powered by GE engines (Read more at Express Tribune).
The deal, which was finalised on Thursday during Trump’s visit to Abu Dhabi, is a major win for the UAE, which has been trying to balance its relations with its longtime ally the US and its largest trading partner China. It reflects the Trump administration’s confidence that the chips can be managed securely, in part by requiring data centres be managed by US companies (Read more at HumEnlish).
This quantity far exceeds limits under Biden-era AI chip regulations. The deal, which is still being negotiated and could change, would let the UAE import 500,000 of the most advanced chips on the market each year from now to 2027, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. While one-fifth would be set aside for the Abu Dhabi AI firm G42, the rest will go to U.S. companies building data centers in the Gulf nation (Read more at MSN)
The package includes six CH-47F Chinook helicopters and related equipment valued at $1.32 billion, which the State Department said would support U.S. foreign policy and national security interests. According to officials from the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, the helicopters are intended for use in search and rescue, disaster relief, humanitarian support, and counterterrorism missions (Read more at Daily Observer).
An Abu Dhabi state-backed investment firm is making a major $2 billion investment in a crypto business deal that could serve as a major boost for Trump family crypto venture World Liberty Financial. USD1, World Liberty Financial's so-called "stablecoin" -- a digital asset designed to maintain a stable value -- is expected to be used to complete Emirati investment firm MGX's $2 billion investment transaction in crypto exchange Binance, Witkoff said (Read more at ABC News).
Emirates, the largest airline in the United Arab Emirates and a key contributor to its economy, is the world's biggest operator of Boeing 777 jets and one of the largest cargo carriers globally. "Things are looking quite positive. But it's something, again, you cannot ignore. There are so many uncertainties out there that we need to watch and monitor", the airline's Deputy President and Chief Commercial Officer Adnan Kazim said on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market show in Dubai (Read more at Reuters).
Etihad had recorded strong seat occupancy levels in recent weeks despite the trade tensions, and that the volatility could even create opportunities in some instances. He expects more Europeans, for example, to take advantage of the euro’s recent gains against the dollar and the Gulf region’s dollar-pegged currencies to travel (Read more at Arabnews).
Abu Dhabi state oil company ADNOC is in the early stages of considering a bid for investment firm Aethon Energy Management's U.S. natural gas assets, according to a person familiar with the matter. The upstream assets of Aethon, which primarily focus on the Haynesville shale formation in Louisiana and East Texas, constitute one of the largest privately held U.S. gas producers (Read more at Yahoo Finance).
Dubai-based Mashreq opens new tab has entered a partnership with Goldman Sachs Asset Management to offer discretionary investment services and tap growing demand for professionally managed portfolios in the Gulf. As the number of high-net-worth individuals, keen for sophisticated investment strategies, increases in the region, a joint statement said services resulting from the collaboration would be available from this month (Read more at Rueters).
Wright will also discuss previously announced investment plans by the Gulf country into the United States, the agency quoted him as saying. Wright would carry out a nearly two-week tour of Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE to lay the ground for a later visit by U.S. President Donald Trump (Read more at Reuters).
US Treasury Secretary imposed the sanctions on those entities and individuals, accusing them of responsibility for procurement of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) components on behalf of a leading manufacturer for Iran's drone program (Read more at Global Times).
So far in March, the UAE exported 68,560.29 metric tons of aluminium to the U.S. before the tariffs kicked in, compared to 16,124.88 metric tons in all of March 2024. The exports in March are already at a nearly two-year high on a monthly basis (Read more at MSN).
At the start of the year, the U.S. government tightened restrictions on the export of artificial intelligence chips, such as those made by Nvidia, while finding ways to block China's access to the advanced technology. Under the regulations, countries such as Japan, Britain, South Korea and the Netherlands would essentially be exempt from the rules while others, including the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Singapore, will face some caps (Read more at Market Screener).
Elon Musk's The Boring Company and Dubai's Road and Transport Authority (RTA) have signed an initial agreement to build the Dubai Loop, an underground high-speed transport network spanning 17km (Read more at Daily Maverick).
The trip will center on freeing American and all other hostages from Hamas captivity, advancing to Phase II of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza, and countering the destabilizing activities of the Iranian regime and its proxies (Read more at State Department Website).
In remarks made during the World Government Summit in Dubai, the UAE ambassador to the US, Yousef Al-Otaiba acknowledged the complexity of the situation, stating, “But at the end of the day, we’re all in a solution-seeking business, we just don’t know where it’s going to land yet.” During the same summit, UAE President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan engaged in discussions with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, emphasizing the importance of a two-state solution (Read more at Roya News).
He will discuss raising funds with Abu Dhabi investment group MGX. Altman's Abu Dhabi stop comes at a key moment for the ChatGPT maker as established U.S. firms face a new challenge from cheaper Chinese alternative DeepSeek. The UAE, a wealthy oil producer and longtime security partner of the U.S., is in a race to become an AI leader amid rising competition from neighbouring Qatar and Saudi Arabia (Read more at Market Screener).
But some Russian diplomats and intelligence officials reportedly oppose holding the summit there due to the countries’ close ties with the U.S. military and intelligence services. While Saudi Arabia and the UAE have not joined Western sanctions or criticized Russia’s invasion, their leaders have maintained diplomatic ties with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Neither country is a member of the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant for Putin in 2023 over alleged war crimes. Putin visited both Saudi Arabia and the UAE later that year. Russia has already ruled out NATO member Turkey as a potential summit venue, citing its role in failed peace talks held in Istanbul in March 2022 (Read more at Moscow Times).
Two US lawmakers said Friday that the United Arab Emirates has violated its promises and kept arming Sudan's Rapid Support Forces, which Washington has accused of genocide. The two Democrats last month agreed to lift objections to a $1.2 billion arms sale to the UAE by the then administration of fellow Democrat Joe Biden after the White House said the Gulf power assured it was "not now transferring any weapons" to the paramilitary group (Read more at Barrons).
Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani promised a $20 billion investment in the booming U.S. data center industry in the coming years, he and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump announced on Tuesday at Trump's home in Palm Beach, Florida. The investment by DAMAC Properties in the United Arab Emirates is intended to highlight Trump’s personal ability to attract new money for big projects (Read more at AP).
The United Arab Emirates has discussed with Israel and the United States participating in a provisional administration of post-war Gaza until a reformed Palestinian Authority is able to take charge (Read more at USNews).
Two lawmakers said the United Arab Emirates made the promise to address their concerns and that as a result, they would drop their attempt to block $1.2 billion in arms sales to the Gulf power (Read more at Defense Post).
Speakers include the president-elect's son Eric and billionaire Steve Witkoff, the new White House envoy for the Middle East and co-founder of World Liberty Financial, a crypto platform launched in September that Donald Trump and his family helped form (Read more at MSN).
U.S. investment management firm Polen Capital said on Monday it has received preliminary approval for a license to operate from the ADGM, Abu Dhabi's financial centre, as it looks to capitalise on growth opportunities in the region. Rising company registrations, the appeal of sovereign wealth funds, and the relative ease of obtaining a license to operate compared with other financial centres have enhanced ADGM's attractiveness for global firms. Polen Capital, which had approximately $63 billion in assets under management as at Sept. 30, will join other global asset managers and hedge funds in setting up in the ADGM (Read more at USNews).
The US government has approved the export of advanced artificial intelligence chips to a Microsoft-operated facility in the United Arab Emirates as part of the company's highly-scrutinized partnership with Emirati AI firm G42. The approved export license requires Microsoft to prevent access to its facility in the UAE by personnel who are from nations under U.S. arms embargoes or who are on the U.S. Bureau of Industry and Security's Entity List (Read more at DecanHerald).
US Senator, Chris Van Hollen, has introduced legislation seeking to halt American weapons sales to the United Arab Emirates until the United States certifies that the UAE is not arming the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Sudan. “The UAE is an important partner in the Middle East, but the United States cannot sit idly by as it aids and abets the humanitarian disaster in Sudan – we must use our leverage to try to bring this conflict to a peaceful resolution,” Van Hollen said in a statement (Read more at Middle East Monitor).
The Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (AIM for Climate) was launched in 2021. Under the program, governments, companies, and non-government organizations pledge funding for projects to reduce the climate impact of agriculture and to make farming more resilient to the impacts of global warming (Read more at Yahoo News).
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed the need to stop the fighting in Sudan and the need to support efforts to form a civilian government during a Friday call with United Arab Emirates Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the State Department said in a statement (Read more at CNBC).
The fund aims to attract investors from the Gulf, Europe, and Southeast Asia. Abu Dhabi firms Realize and Neovision Wealth Management have unveiled an investment fund that acquires units of U.S. Treasury bill-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and tokenizes them. Known as the Realize T-Bills Fund, the fund will acquire shares of Blackrock’s low-cost ishares and State Street’s SPDR ETFs (Read more at Bitcoin.com).
As part of their attempts to avoid being caught in the crossfire, Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar are also refusing to let Israel fly over their airspace for any attack on Iran and have conveyed this to Washington. The moves by the Gulf states come after a diplomatic push by Tehran to persuade its Gulf neighbors to use their influence with Washington amid rising concerns Israel could target Iran's oil production facilities (Read more at Daily Sabah).
Being recognised as a major defence partner was a welcome development that mirrored a confidence in US policy, says Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed (Read more at Khaleej Times).
Moreover, Biden and UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan called for "urgent, unhindered" humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza and shared their commitment to a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas in a statement after their meeting. Their joint statement touched on the Gulf state's involvement in the Sudan conflict, with both stressing that there was no military solution to the war, which has triggered the world's largest displacement crisis. They also underscored plans to deepen cooperation on space exploration, clean energy and artificial intelligence, where the UAE has launched ambitious plans drawing interest from U.S. geopolitical rival China (Read more at Ariana News).
The UAE, a wealthy oil producer and longtime security partner of the U.S., is hoping for greater access to American technology to build its own advanced tech industry. G42, the state-backed technology company, has already secured a $1.5 billion investment from Microsoft, partnered with chipmaker Nvidia and is using supercomputers built by Cerebras Systems. But the U.S. has been concerned about the UAE's warm relationship with China and placed restrictions on exports of some American technology to the UAE and other Middle Eastern states over concerns that it could be shared with Beijing (Read more at USNews).
If the U.S. did approve the transfer, the UAE would be only the second Middle East state after Israel to operate F-35 fighters. Trump had signed off on the deal in the final days of his presidency in 2021 but the UAE suspended talks by the end of the year, unable to agree terms with the Biden administration (Read more at AOL).
That entails the export of crucial components of AI technology such as model weights, a crown jewel of AI systems that determine how powerful they are. There were safeguards to protect the company’s technology and prevent it from being used by Chinese entities to train AI systems. But those measures have not been made public, and some US lawmakers question whether they are adequate (Read more at Arab Weekly).
Though the exact location was not disclosed, sharp eyes online revealed that the photos were taken from the Al Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates. Interestingly, the base serves as the home for the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing and previously housed the US Air Force’s RQ-4 Global Hawk drones. It is believed to be connected to intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (Read more at Defense Post).
"The visit is a continuation of long-standing engagement between the US and this region," the official said. "Specifically, for the Department of Energy, it will move forward work both countries are doing on climate cooperation and to diversify the energy economy." (Read more at Yahoo Finance)
Furthermore, the Arab countries opened their airspace to fighter jets, shared radar surveillance information or, in some cases, provided their own forces to help. Jordan said it would allow U.S. and other countries' warplanes to use its airspace, even using its own aircraft to help intercept the Iranian threats (Read more at I24).
The Emirati government reportedly threatened to suspend work on an Arab–Israeli land route if aid does not reach Gaza. US plans to construct a temporary port on the shores of Gaza are reportedly the result of Emirati pressure on Washington (Read more at The Cradle).
Of the new entities listed, 4 from the UAE, 16 from Turkey, 63 were from Russia, and 8 from China. The action taken one day before the 2nd anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine means banning U.S. shipments to them (Read more at USNews).
