White House: UAE Has Committed to $1.4trn Investment in US

The United Arab Emirates has committed to a 10-year, $1.4 trillion investment framework in the United States after top UAE officials met President Donald Trump last week, the White House said at the weekend.

The framework will “substantially increase the UAE’s existing investments in the US economy” in AI infrastructure, semiconductors, energy, and manufacturing, the White House said in a statement.

The White House did not outline how UAE investments would reach $1.4 trillion, with some of the deals unveiled as part of the framework having already been announced,” a Reuters report said.

The only fully new deal appeared to be an investment by Emirates Global Aluminium in what would be the first new aluminum smelter in the United States in 35 years, the White House said, adding the plant “would nearly double US domestic aluminum production”.

The UAE, an oil producer and longtime security partner of the US, is looking to deepen investment ties with Washington and is emerging as a global leader in AI, one of the sectors it is betting on to diversify its economy away from energy.

In September, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan met former US President Joe Biden, in the first visit of a UAE president to the White House, as the two leaders discussed deepening cooperation in areas such as AI, investments and space exploration.

Gulf sovereign wealth funds, including Abu Dhabi’s $330-billion Mubadala, are already big US investors, and Trump and his family have business ties to the region.