He calls them handsome, attractive, tough: Donald Trump’s bromance with Arab leaders

The US President’s close ties with Arab leaders signals that he’s turning to strong relations with the Gulf as the centrepiece of his Middle East strategy.

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and US President Donald Trump ahead of a state dinner at the Lusail Palace in Doha on May 14. Picture: AFP

Three days in the Middle East have put President Trump’s bromance diplomacy on full display.

“I like you too much,” Mr Trump told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, later placing his hand on his heart as the two men bid farewell on the airport tarmac.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa was “attractive” and “tough,” Mr Trump said after a surprise meeting in Riyadh with the former rebel leader who toppled Syria’s longtime dictator in December.

Mr Trump said Qatar’s ruling emir and his family were “tall, handsome guys”. “You’re a magnificent man,” Mr Trump said Thursday at the royal palace in Abu Dhabi, as he sat beside Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates.

Mr Trump’s close ties with Arab leaders stand in contrast to his interactions with some traditional US allies, including European counterparts, who have been the subject of the president’s derision and criticism. And it signals that Mr Trump is turning to strong relations with the Gulf as the centrepiece of his Middle East strategy.

“You’re a magnificent man”: Donald Trump receives the Order of Zayed, the UAE’s highest civil decoration, from his UAE counterpart Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. Picture: AFP

The Gulf monarchs returned Mr Trump’s affection. Sheikh Mohamed bestowed on Mr Trump the Order of Zayed, the country’s highest civilian honour. All three countries organised fighter-jet escorts for Air Force One.

They committed to trillions in US business investments. They organised camel parades, horseback riders, singers, sword dancers and lavish parties in opulent palaces. And they heaped praise on Mr Trump as a political comeback king, sometimes echoing his rhetoric with phrases like “drill, baby, drill.”

Mr Trump’s unreserved adoration for Prince Mohammed marked a contrast with former President Joe Biden, who vowed during the 2020 presidential campaign to treat Saudi Arabia like a “pariah”. Amid high energy prices, Mr Biden visited Saudi Arabia in 2022 and gave Prince Mohammed a fist bump, in an attempt to reset the tense relationship.

Mr Trump this week cast his bonds with Arab leaders as central to his foreign policy. “We will work together, we will be together, we will succeed together, we will win together and we will always be friends,” Mr Trump said in his keynote address in Riyadh.

It was the second Trump term’s greatest display of the president’s personalisation of foreign policy, which is deeply influenced by his relationships with world leaders. Mr Trump announced this week that the US would lift sanctions on Syria in large part because of how he viewed Mr Sharaa, a US-designated terrorist who overthrew dictator President Bashar al-Assad last year. Mr Trump also said Saudi Arabia’s Prince Mohammed and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan influenced his decision.

“Oh, what I do for the crown prince”: Donald Trump with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh on Wednesday. Picture: AP Photo

“Oh, what I do for the crown prince,” Mr Trump said during a speech in Saudi Arabia. At the end of Mr Trump’s remarks about the kingdom, Prince Mohammed stood and applauded, letting loose a wide smile.

Ahead of the trip, the Saudis floated adding a round of golf to Mr Trump’s schedule, but the Americans declined, people familiar with the plans said.

The flip side to the personalised approach to policy is that angering Mr Trump could up-end longstanding alliances. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky found that out the hard way, fighting with Mr Trump in the Oval Office about reaching a peace deal with Russia. Mr Trump publicly expressed his frustration with Mr Zelensky, and the encounter set back negotiations to end Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Analysts say there is a clear upside and a notable downside to Mr Trump’s diplomatic style. Having a warm relationship with another leader can catalyse breakthroughs during tough negotiations and make crisis co-ordination easier. But it could just as easily provide a blueprint for foreign leaders to influence the President.

“Attractive”: Donald Trump shakes hands with Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh on Wednesday. Picture: AFP Photo / Saudi Royal Palace / Bandar al-Jaloud

Qatar is in discussions with the US to gift the government a $US400m plane for Mr Trump to use as Air Force One. Critics say Mr Trump shouldn’t accept such a large gift, even on behalf of the administration, because it is meant to influence his thinking about the tiny, oil-rich state with ties to Iran. Mr Trump said that only a “stupid person” would refuse such a gesture.

“What’s good for the person isn’t always good for the country,” said Christopher Preble, director of the Reimagining US Grand Strategy program at the Stimson Centre think tank. “This is one of the many reasons why there are rules about gifts and also a policy process to ensure that decisions made are vetted by more than the principal.”

Mr Trump has made personal relations a staple of his foreign policy. He has argued that maintaining good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will keep the geopolitical rivals from clashing with the US, whether it is over a war in Ukraine or trade deals.

In the first term, Mr Trump switched from threatening nuclear war with North Korea to conducting nuclear talks with Kim Jong-un and writing friendly letters to the country’s autocratic leader. “We fell in love,” Trump said in 2018.

Other US presidents haven’t shied away from the personal touch to foreign policy. Mr Biden thought that many global problems could be solved by two leaders meeting privately and reaching an understanding.

But Mark Hannah, CEO of the Institute of Global Affairs, said “at least at a superficial level, Trump appears more susceptible to flattery than other politicians. But he also seems alert to its power, and deploys as much as he demands it.”

During a speech Thursday in front of US troops in Qatar, Mr Trump said the Gulf was “an amazing part of the world, and our relationship has never been stronger.” Moments before his address, as the crowd awaited his arrival, James Brown’s It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World blared over the speakers.

The Wall Street Journal