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Economy & Business

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US eases foreign investment rules days before Trump Gulf visit: What to know

Gulf states are estimated to manage 40% of the world’s sovereign wealth and are some of the biggest investors in the United States.

Khaldoun al-Mubarak, Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer of the Mubadala Investment Company, speaks at a panel session during the World Government Summit in Dubai on February 12, 2024. (Photo by RYAN LIM / AFP) (Photo by RYAN LIM/AFP via Getty Images)

Mubadala investments soar by 33% as UAE deepens AI ties with US

Mubadala made 119 billion Emirati dirhams ($32.4 billion) worth of investments in 2024, up 33.7% from the previous year, according to a Thursday statement from the UAE fund.

United Arab Emirates

Pakistan flights

Mideast airlines suspend Pakistan flights following Indian strikes

Pakistan closed its airspace for 48 hours starting early Wednesday following Indian airstrikes on several locations that left at least 15 people dead.

United Arab Emirates

U.S. President Donald Trump arrives in the Cross Hall of the White House to deliver remarks during an event on "Investing in America" on April 30, 2025 in Washington, DC

Wall Street, Silicon Valley executives to join Trump in Saudi Arabia as US courts Gulf funds

US President Trump is visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on May 13-15 in his first foreign visit since returning to the White House for his second term in January.

Latest News

Goldman Sachs lowers oil forecast after OPEC+ boosts production: What to know

Nodding donkey rig pumping crude oil up from the ground of an oil field in the desert.

OPEC+ moves up meeting as oil prices continue to drop: What to know

Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Interview

Qatar’s digital future offers opportunities in AI, energy, says head of US-Qatar Business Council

Sheikha Mayes Al-Thani speaks at inaugural USQBC-SelectUSA event in Washington, DC, February 25, 2024.

Sheikha Mayes Al Thani

Sheikha Mayes Al Thani

Managing Director, US-Qatar Business Council

Libya, Turkey deepen economic ties with new trade committee, $5B target

MAHMUD TURKIA/AFP via Getty Images

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Samuel Wendel

Senior Market Research Analyst

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

Adam Lucente

News and Business Correspondent

In New York City, reporting on regional news, militancy, climate change

Jack Dutton

Chief Business Correspondent

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Sabena Siddiqui

In Karachi, reporting on South Asia, Middle East, Iran

Sebastian Castelier

In Dubai, reporting on regional business

Jennifer Gnana

Gulf Correspondent

In Dubai, reporting on Gulf energy policy and politics

FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images

China JV wins $1.13 billion contract to relocate Saudi university facilities

The KSU deal marks the latest in a series of large contracts awarded by the Diriyah Company, which is overseeing the city project.

Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani met Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez at the Amiri Diwan office in Doha on April 29, 2025.

Venezuela’s VP meets emir in Qatar, looks to expand energy ties: What to know

Qatar has demonstrated interest in Venezuela’s recovering oil industry as well as mediation between the US and the South American country.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot attends a press conference in Baghdad, April 23, 2025.

France, Germany, UK to reapply Iran sanctions if US talks fall through: Barrot

US and Iranian diplomats have in recent weeks held three rounds of Oman-mediated talks aimed at reaching a new deal on Iran's nuclear program.

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

This picture shows a poster depicting King Abdulaziz bin Saud (L), the founder of the modern kingdom of Saudi Arabia, King Salman bin Abdulaziz (C), and Crown Prince Mohammed in Riyadh on April 16, 2023.

China’s Sinopec, Saudi Aramco to establish $4B energy venture: What to know

The joint venture will engage in port operations, crude oil transportation and other activities at the refinery and petrochemical complex in the Gulei Port Economic Development Zone in Zhangzhou, in China's Fujian province.

An aerial view shows the Halwaniya neighborhood in Aleppo, Syria on Apr. 12, 2025.

Qatar, Saudi Arabia to pay off Syria’s $15B World Bank debt: What to know

Both Gulf states have played a key role in the diplomatic outreach of Syria's new government.

Motorists wait at a traffic light by the Central Bank of Egypt building in Cairo early on March 4, 2024.

Analysis

Can Egypt’s economic comeback absorb Trump’s global trade shocks?

Buoyed by foreign investment and cautious reforms, Egypt’s fragile recovery faces a new test from Trump’s tariff-fueled trade turbulence.

Samuel Wendel

By Samuel Wendel

In Washington, DC, reporting on regional business and tech

NIKITA BORISSOV/AFP via Getty Images

Russia agrees to supply Iran with 55 bcm of gas, fund nuclear plant: What to know

Iranian Oil Minister Mohsen Paknejad is in Moscow this week, meeting with Russian Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev on Friday.

Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa (2nd R) leaves a bilateral room after his meeting with Qatar's minister of foreign affairs during the Antalya Diplomacy Forum, Antalya, April 11, 2025.

UK lifts sanctions on Syrian ministries, intelligence agencies

It marks the second raft of sanctions on Syria lifted by the United Kingdom since the toppling of long-time dictator Bashar Al-Assad in December and the formation of a new government.

Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar face uneven 2025 growth as trade tensions rise: IMF

While Gulf economies face only the Trump administration’s baseline 10% tariffs, the levies have already impacted oil prices and revenue, especially for rentier states like Saudi Arabia.

Employees stand behind stacks of local currency notes as they serve clients at an exchange shop in Damascus, on April 16, 2025.

IMF appoints first Syria mission head in 14 years: What to know

Syria's new government faces the task of revitalizing an economy that has been devastated by 14 years of war and ravaged by international sanctions.

Excess flammable gasses burning from gas flares at the Havana oil field, west of the multi-ethnic northern Iraqi city of Kirku, Oct. 17, 2017.

Analysis

Why low oil prices under Trump are unlikely to curb Middle East output

Prices stood around $100 a barrel in 2022, under the Biden administration, but hovered between $63 and $66 this past week.

In Bristol, reporting on regional business, climate change, AI, tech

Jakarta

GCC-Indonesia economic ties deepen with Saudi MoUs, joint Qatar fund

Trade between Indonesia and the Gulf is rising and negotiations are underway for a GCC-Indonesia free trade agreement.

	
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