US politics newsletter - In Plane Sight

By James Oliphant

WASHINGTON, May 15 (Reuters) - Donald Trump has never made a secret of how he views the world. To him, there are sharks and there are marks. Life is a negotiation —and what matters is getting more than you give away. “Deals are my art form,” Trump wrote in his signature book, “The Art of the Deal,” published almost 40 years ago.

The president took that deal-making mindset with him on a whirlwind tour of the Middle East this week, where it seemed at almost every turn he was announcing a new agreement with a leader of a Gulf state or trying to resolve longstanding conflicts. And since it was Trump, all of it was done with a maximal flair for the dramatic and a willingness to disrupt the status quo.

Before Trump even arrived in Saudi Arabia for a diplomatic summit, the White House announced the United States had struck a deal with Hamas to free the last living American hostage, Edan Alexander, while bypassing staunch ally Israel in the process. He also eased trade tensions with China by lifting some of the most burdensome tariffs on imports.

Once in Riyadh, he shocked the gathering by declaring the U.S. was lifting sanctions on Syria in a bid to bring the war-scarred nation in from the cold. At the same time, he landed a $600 billion investment by the Saudi royal family, a deal that included $142 billion in U.S. arms sales .

The timing was not a coincidence. Trump said he was asked to lift the sanctions on Syria by Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Trump went so far as to meet with Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and urged him to normalize relations with Israel as some other Arab states have.

“Leverage is having something the other guy wants,” Trump wrote in “The Art of the Deal.” “Or better yet, needs. Or best of all, simply can’t do without.”

The next stop was Qatar, a country that was once on the outs with the U.S. On Wednesday, with Trump sitting at an ornate desk alongside Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the two countries agreed to an economic exchange the White House said was worth at least $1.2 trillion. Qatar agreed to buy nearly $100 billion worth of Boeing jets as part of the deal.

Trump was impressed with the emir’s palace. “Nice house! Nice house!” he exclaimed, according to the White House pool report.

The Qataris may not be building Trump a palace, but they could end up giving him the next best thing – a $400 million 747 luxury aircraft that the president could utilize as Air Force One and then possibly keep after his presidency. As trip souvenirs go, it’s one that won’t fit in his carry-on, but as political headaches go, the intended gift could be a doozy. Democrats in Washington blasted the proposal as illegal, and even some Senate Republicans expressed concern about the undue influence and security risks involved.

Ethics experts have listed a range of Trump activities that could point to the president using his office to enrich himself or his family such as a $TRUMP meme coin, plans for a new Trump hotel in Dubai and a new golf course in Qatar.

Trump didn’t see a problem. Who turns down a free plane? "I mean, I could be a stupid person saying, 'No, we don't want a free, very expensive airplane'," he told reporters on Monday.

The president made clear this week he still hopes to reach an agreement with Iran to avoid a strike that would take out its nuclear program. And he suggested he would be willing to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Turkey if it would help end Russia’s war with Ukraine. (That’s not happening—yet.)

He also managed to take some credit for cooling hostilities between India and Pakistan. “ I said, you know, I could settle that up. I can settle anything,” Trump told reporters on Thursday while on his way to the United Arab Emirates for the last leg of the trip.

Some critics have faulted Trump for practicing transactional diplomacy, one that prioritizes self-interest and short-term gain and eschews multi-national alliances, soft power and long-term strategic planning. But in Trump’s world, there is the easy way and the hard way -- and as he made clear when talking about Iran earlier this week while heading to Qatar, he would rather go the easier route.

“Hopefully they’re going to make the right decision because something’s going to happen one way or the other,” Trump said. “They can’t have a nuclear weapon. So, we’ll either do it friendly, or we’ll do it very unfriendly and that won’t be pleasant.”

That sounds like a man who thinks war is bad for business.

TOP US POLITICS HEADLINES:

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• Republicans embrace Trump's populist tax push with midterms in mind

• Staff exodus at US farm agency leaves fewer experts to battle bird flu

• US Republican budget proposal has removal of gun silencer tax in its sights

THE VIEW FROM JERUSALEM:

The Israeli government stayed silent this week during Trump’s Middle East blitz even as the president’s moves shook assumptions about Israel’s place in his firmament. But the war in Gaza continued unabated .

WHAT TO WATCH FOR:

• May 15: Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine begin in Turkey with the U.S. attending.

• May 18: Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio attend inaugural mass of Pope Leo XIV in Vatican City.

• May 19: Trump and first lady Melania Trump plan to celebrate the passage of the Take It Down Act — a bill aimed at protecting the victims of deepfake and revenge pornography -- at the White House.

• May 21: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa meets Trump in the United States.

THE WHO, WHAT AND WHEN:

• What’s in the China-US trade deal?

• Explainer: Syria’s economy – the devastating impact of war and sanctions

• Explainer: Why does Saudi Arabia want a civil nuclear deal with the US?