The US and Qatar yesterday signed $1.2 trillion in economic commitments, including $96 billion for Doha to buy up to 210 Boeing planes in the company’s largest-ever widebody order and largest-ever 787 order, the White House said.
“That’s fantastic. So that’s a record,” US President Donald Trump said, adding: “It’s the largest order of jets in the history of Boeing. That’s pretty good.”
His comments followed a deal signing ceremony that included defence agreements including on defence co-operation and the purchase by Qatar of American MQ-9B drones, after about two hours of talks with Qatar’s Amir Shaikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
Other deals included Quantinuum finalising a joint venture agreement with Qatar’s Al Rabban Capital to invest up to $1bn in state-of-the-art quantum technologies and workforce development in the US.
The US agreed to sell $bn worth of counter-drone capabilities to Qatar, making Doha the first international customer for Raytheon’s Fixed Site – Low, Slow, Small Unmanned Aerial System Integrated Defeat System (FS-LIDS), according to the White House.
General Atomics also agreed to a nearly $2bn deal to allow Qatar to purchase MQ-9B remotely piloted aircraft systems.
Washington and Doha also signed a statement of intent to strengthen the bilateral relationship, outlining more than $38bn in potential investments, including “support for burden-sharing at Al Udeid Air Base and future defence capabilities related to air defence and maritime security.”
His Qatar visit is the second destination of his Gulf tour, after a first stop in Riyadh, where he made a surprise announcement lifting sanctions on Syria and met the country’s president.
The Qatar-Boeing deal is the latest in a series of high-profile aviation agreements signed during Trump’s four-day Middle East visit. Just a day earlier, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund inked a $4.8bn agreement with Boeing, and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick confirmed a $10bn order from a British airline, part of the administration’s broader push to boost American exports.
Hours after the announcement, Trump attended a state dinner with Qatari leaders, where he announced that Qatar was helping negotiate a deal with Iran amid talks to limit the nation’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief – a move he described as “the far friendlier course.”
“There’s only two courses,” he said. “Friendly and non-friendly, and non-friendly is a violent course. I don’t want that.” Trump has said he would never allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.
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