WASHINGTON − Bahrain’s crown prince announced $17 billion in investments in the U.S., including buying a dozen Boeing jets and dozens of GE engines.
“We’re very happy to be announcing $17 billion worth of deals that are coming to the United States,” Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa told President Donald Trump in the Oval Office. “These aren’t fake deals. These are real deals.”
“We appreciate the investment,” Trump said.
Khalifa’s third visit to the White House with President Donald Trump came on the heels of the president’s Middle East trip in May to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates. Deals announced during that trip included a $1.2 trillion commitment from Qatar and a $600 million commitment from Saudi Arabia and an agreement to sell that country $142 billion in arms.
Khalifa said the leaders will also be discussing security issues, trade and investment. Asked if he would send Patriot missiles to Ukraine, as Europe is doing, Khalifa said, “We have no current plans.”
“They are wonderful,” he said of the air defense missiles. “American technology is the best.”
The plane deal calls for Gulf Air to buy 12 Boeing aircraft worth about $7 billion, with an option for six more. The deal includes the sale of 40 GE engines. The White House said the deal would support 30,000 jobs.
Bahrain plans to support U.S. aluminum production, liquefied natural gas production and buy cutting-edge artificial intelligence chips. The country also plans to invest in Oracle and Cisco servers, and replace its Chinese servers.
Bahrain also completed a framework to begin discussions towards developing commercial nuclear capabilities. Secretary of State Marco Rubio hosted Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani for the signing of the memo.
This is Khalifa’s third White House visit, after two during Trump’s first term. He visited in November 2017 to discuss defense and economic cooperation. And he visited in September 2019 to sign a deal for the Patriot missile defense system, along with trade talks.
Contributing: Reuters
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bahrain pledges $17B in US investments, including Boeing jets
