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President Donald Trump To Arrive In Middle East Soon; Hamas Releases Last Known Living American Hostage In Gaza; China And U.S. Agree To Drastically Slash Tariffs For 90 Days; Zelenskyy Says Russia is Ignoring Proposals for Ceasefire Talks; Ukraine Would Appreciate Trump at Talks With Putin; Thousands Gather at Portugal Shrine to Pray for Peace; Simone Biles Delivers Inspiring Commencement Address; President Trump Arrives in Saudi Arabia; Trump Administration Officials Say Priority is to Procure Economic Agreements. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired May 13, 2025 - 02:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[02:00:26]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, and everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead, looking to make deals, Donald Trump is set to arrive in Saudi Arabia, the first of three energy rich Gulf nations on his trip, which have pledged trillions of dollars in investments.

Tariff truce, at least for now, U.S. stocks soar after a breakthrough in trade negotiations with China and silence from the Kremlin after Volodymyr Zelenskyy agrees to meet face to face with Vladimir Putin.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. U.S. President Donald Trump will touch down in the Middle East very soon for his first major overseas trip since the start of his second term. He's expected to kick off the visit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, before heading on to the UAE and Qatar this week.

Several Trump administration officials say the president's top priority is obtaining economic agreements with the focus on trade and investment. This all comes after the Trump administration helped secure the release of Israeli American hostage Edan Alexander.

An emotional reunion in Israel after Hamas freed Alexander, the last known living American hostage in Gaza. He is reunited with his family after more than 19 months in captivity. We will, of course, have more on that story just ahead.

First though, let's go to CNN's Becky Anderson in Riyadh, Becky. BECKY ANDERSON, CNN ANCHOR: Rosemary, President Trump due to land here this hour, he sees the Kingdom and its neighbors Qatar and the UAE, and is offering huge opportunities for his America First policy that, frankly, he doesn't get elsewhere.

Opportunities across geopolitics and very specifically, business and investment. That is one regional commentator described to me tick all the right boxes in terms of the U.S. president's transactional approach to foreign policy.

From the Gulf states his perspective, very specifically, from the Kingdom's perspective, it's time to secure greater privileges in their relationship with the world's most powerful nation.

Writing in an op-ed for The Washington Times this morning, the Saudi ambassador to the United States says, partly, I quote, "In the Kingdom, we believe that a sustainable partnership begins with reciprocity. Together, we are mediators, allies and stewards, leveraging our strengths to foster peace and security. That is what makes Mr. Trump's visit so timely," she wrote. "His agenda of trade, investment, energy security and counter terrorism is in sync with our goals." The words of the Saudi ambassador to Washington.

Well, we are joined now by Dina Esfandiary, who is Middle East Geoeconomics Lead for Bloomberg Economics in Dubai. It's always good to have you, Dina, thank you for joining us.

And I want to start with you on the economics of this trip, and then broaden out to the diplomacy. Donald Trump wants a big slice of the Kingdom's sovereign cash. He's talking a trillion dollars here, very specifically. Saudi in turn wants investments in its ambitious economic vision.

The list of U.S. heavyweights here is impressive, Musk reportedly here in his capacity as CEO of X and xAI, as are the CEOs of chip maker Nvidia and Sam Altman from OpenAI and the list goes on.

From a Saudi perspective, what can we expect on this trip, very specifically, what will success look like for the Kingdom do you think?

DINA ESFANDIARY, MIDDLE EAST GEOECONOMICS LEAD, BLOOMBERG ECONOMICS: Sure. So, I think for the Kingdom, it will be a key moment and a real opportunity to showcase what Saudi has to offer. The leadership in Riyadh will try to demonstrate that this is a, you know, stable country with a no problem with neighbors policy, that it's open for investment, that it has a lot of big, heavy hitting ideas, and that it wants investment.

So, that is one aspect, but the second aspect, and arguably the most important one is a more diplomatic one. I think this will be an opportunity for Riyadh to get the U.S. on site, and it will be an opportunity for Riyadh to kind of set some red lines in terms of what it wants the U.S. to do in the region and with the conflicts in the region.

[02:05:22]

ANDERSON: Well, let's start with Iran, because that's very much a sweet spot for you. You're an absolute expert on Iran.

Last time Trump was here in 2017, the U.S. had a deal with Iran to limit its nuclear program. The Saudis hated it. They had no seat at the table during the JCPOA talks, no visibility on the deal, and at the time, the Kingdom saw Tehran as an existential threat, frankly.

Now, Trump pulled the U.S. out of that deal, famously, and is now renegotiating a new one. And we've had the fourth series of talks in Oman just this weekend, and those talks are with Riyadh's blessing. Just explain what has changed.

ESFANDIARY: Absolutely. I mean, today's Middle East and the conflict with Iran is a very different one to the one in 2017 when Trump was first here.

What's changed is that the Iranians and the Saudis are now talking. What's changed is that they have a de-escalation channel. They have a deal where they've pledged to continue to talk to one another.

And what's changed also is that Riyadh has realized it can't really count on the U.S. to secure it. It has to do it itself, and so its policy vis-a-vis Iran has changed over the years. It now doesn't believe in just containing Iran. It believes in containing and engaging Iran.

The Saudis are also afraid of being caught in the middle if there is a military conflict between Israel and the U.S. on one side and Iran on the other. So, they are supportive of any kind of de-escalation talks, any kind of talk on Iran's nuclear program that will contain its program, but at the same time, push away this idea of military strikes on Iran. And that's exactly what the U.S. negotiations with Iran is doing right now.

ANDERSON: And what do those negotiations look like? What do you understand to be the state of those negation negotiations as we speak?

ESFANDIARY: Well, they appear to be going as well as they possibly could be, to be honest, keep in mind that these are two countries that aren't very comfortable with talking with one another. They haven't had diplomatic ties in several decades. They have very, very different asks. They are miles apart in terms of what they want for Iran's nuclear program, and yet they've met very regularly since they started.

Everybody describes the tone of the talks as relatively cordial, and I think they're still in the stage where they're laying out their red lines.

The only thing that, at the moment remains a little bit unclear is exactly what that U.S. ask will be, because on the U.S. side, there's been a lot of different statements made about whether Iran is allowed to have an enrichment program or not. So, it remains to be seen really what that ask is. ANDERSON: What I think many people in this region find absolutely fascinating is that the U.S. has gone into those talks despite Israel's position when it comes to Iran, it's very maximalist position.

The U.S. also unilaterally, as we understand, brokered a cease fire, or certainly got into a cease fire with the Houthis in Yemen, south of where we are now. The Houthis in the past have been a real threat to national security here in Saudi.

And they've also got ahead and broke at this last prisoner release of Edan Alexander with Hamas. All of this, it seems freezing out the Israelis.

What do you make of Washington's sort of unilateral approach to what is going on in this region with this new sort of, you know, robust relationship with Saudi and the other Gulf allies. And what does that say about this region and the U.S. approach to it going forward?

ESFANDIARY: Well, the first thing I'd say is I don't want to be -- I wouldn't want to be Benjamin Netanyahu right now in Israel, because this isn't the relationship, I think, that he wants to have with the U.S., and it's not the relationship that he's used to having with the U.S.

We now find ourselves in a time where President Trump doesn't want to be involved in forever wars in the region. He's looking for quick ways out of them and some of those ways out, as you say, involves freezing out the Israelis.

I think there's a lot of frustration on the U.S. side, also with Netanyahu and how he doesn't really seem to be following the U.S. lead. Is trying to influence the U.S. to do the opposite of what the U.S. aims to do.

[02:10:12]

And so, that frustration has been growing over the last few weeks. I also think that the U.S. has an order of priority when it comes to the Middle East.

So, dealing with the Iran crisis is number one, building this, you know, economic relationship with the Gulf Arabs is number two, and the Hamas, Israel, Gaza war, yes, ideally they would get out of it, but I think it's a lower priority, which is why, again, you've seen the U.S. flip flop a little bit on it.

So, it's just a very different time for the Israelis and the region.

ANDERSON: Yes, it's fascinating, isn't it? Dina, it's always good to have you. Thank you very much indeed for joining us. Your analysis and insight so important on a day like this.

And Rosemary, then within the next hour or so, we are expecting to see Donald Trump land here in Riyadh. Geopolitics clearly important to this region and to the Trump administration. They are, though, touting trade and investment as the key priority as they get into what is this three nation tour.

Here today, you will see Donald Trump speak at a U.S.-Saudi investment conference summit where all those big CEOs will be present, and all the big principles from the Saudi's side.

Expect to see, for example, the minerals minister here, there is more than $2 trillion worth of minerals as an opportunity here in Saudi. They want to see that serve as a sort of supply chain opportunity to the likes of the United States in the sort of clean transition.

So, there are a lot of opportunities that will be discussed. There may be a lot of window dressing at the end of it, I'm told that maybe as many as a hundred deals struck. Some of those may be MOUs as opposed to concrete deals, but the sort of you know, the positioning and journey is in the right direction, and the Saudis certainly want to see the trip here as of mutual benefit.

This is not a blank check from the Saudis, nor is it from the Qataris or the UAE, to a degree. They all want to see the investments that they offer into the United States to suit Donald Trump's America First policy, to onshore manufacturing, get the A.I. and advanced tech world absolutely front and center and in front of China, of course, and that's a good lens to look at this from.

But they also want to ensure that their own ambitious economic visions, which are also tied to A.I. and advanced tech, are also part and parcel of these discussions. They want to see that inward investment, as well as offering that outward sovereign cash to the United States.

So, it's going to be an interesting trip. We'll see the investment conference this afternoon and tomorrow here, importantly to the conversation I've just been having with Dina. There is a Gulf-U.S. summit where the U.S. will be -- Donald Trump will be with the GCC leaders. Expect Iran to come up. Expect Israel, Palestine, the Gaza conflict to come up. Expect Syria to come up.

The Saudis and the Qatar is very wedded to supporting the reconstruction of Syria, but they need U.S. support and lifting sanctions for that. The Europeans are already on their way to lifting some of those sanctions, and that is important, as all of these nations look to de-escalation, look to the end of containment, as it were, in these maximalist approaches which have festered such conflict around this region, it's going to be a really interesting trip, Rosemary.

CHURCH: Certainly. Well, speaking there, Becky Anderson in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia, and we're looking probably in about half an hour the U.S. president is expected to arrive. Appreciate you. Thank you so much, Becky.

And Donald Trump says that Hamas took a step in good faith with the release of Israeli American hostage Edan Alexander. Now the families of other hostages are hoping for a breakthrough too.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is following all the developments from Tel Aviv. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): To Yael, Edan Alexander isn't just the last living American hostage in Gaza. He's, her son. And this reunion is more than 19 months in the making.

[02:15:14]

Alexander, an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas on October 7th, released unconditionally in a gesture that U.S. Officials say could unlock a deal to free more hostages and deliver a ceasefire in Gaza.

Before that emotional reunion, a phone call to U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff's cell phone assuaging a mother's worst fears. You're out, my soul. You're out, she tells him, grasping at this new reality.

YAEL ALEXANDER, MOTHER OF EDAN ALEXANDER: They just released a photo of you, and you look unbelievable. Wow. You look beautiful. I love you so much.

DIAMOND (voice-over): That photo of Alexander alongside a Red Cross official and masked Hamas militants gave his family the first confirmation that Edan was alive and well.

(CROWD CHEERING)

In Tel Aviv's Hostage Square, hundreds joining in the family's joy, cheering at the first sight of the hostage whose name, Edan, they've all come to know. TRUMP: I know his parents are so happy. They're so happy.

DIAMOND (voice-over): President Trump making clear he expects Alexander's release to lead to much more. Writing on social media, "This was a step taken in good faith to put an end to this very brutal war and return all living hostages and remains to their loved ones. Hopefully, this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict."

A week after announcing plans to launch a major new offensive in Gaza next week, the Israeli prime minister now agreeing under U.S. pressure to send a delegation to Qatar to negotiate. But he is also vowing those negotiations will continue under fire. For the families of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza, their fight continues.

ELNAV ZANGAUKER, SON HELD HOSTAGE IN GAZA: Mr. President, sir, all of the Israeli people are behind you. End this war. Bring them all home.

DIAMOND (voice-over): Yehuda Cohen's son, Nimrod, is the same age as Edan Alexander. They were even posted at the same base on October 7th, but Nimrod is still captive in Gaza.

YEHUDA COHEN, FATHER OF ISRAELI SOLDIER HELD HOSTAGE IN GAZA: My son has only two titles, Israeli citizen and Israeli soldier. The only difference is the American citizenship.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: A big breakthrough in the China-U.S. trade war, and the markets are thrilled, but the deal marks a pause, not a solution. We will talk about what comes next.

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[02:22:15]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. A 90 day pause in the U.S.-China trade war has brought relief to the markets and hopes of avoiding a global recession. Wall Street posted the biggest single day gain in more than a month on Monday. U.S. stocks have now recouped all their losses since Liberation Day, when the U.S. president announced a 10 percent tariff on almost all imports entering the U.S.

This Wednesday, the U.S. will lower record high tariffs on Chinese imports from 145 percent to 30 percent, while China will reduce a 125 percent tariff on American imports to just 10 percent.

Now, this detente comes after a breakthrough in talks this past weekend, marking an unexpected shift by the Trump administration, which just days ago, seemed to be digging in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're not looking to hurt China. China was being hurt very badly. They were closing up factories. They were having a lot of unrest, and they were very happy to be able to do something with us, and the relationship is very, very good. I'll speak to President Xi maybe at the end of the week.

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CHURCH: So, let's bring up U.S. Futures. You can see they are in negative territory right now, but we'll see what happens in the coming hours when markets open.

And then, if we bring up the Asia Pacific markets, Japan's Nikkei is up 1.5, more than 1.5 percent there. The Hang Seng down about the same amount, and the Seoul cost be just pretty flat there. So we'll watch to see what happens in the hours ahead.

Still to come, silence from the Kremlin after Vladimir Putin proposed direct peace talks with Ukraine for this week. How the U.S., Ukraine and the E.U. are trying to push him to the table. We'll take a look. Stay with us.

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[02:28:47]

CHURCH: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he would welcome Donald Trump's presence at potential peace talks with Russian officials this week. The U.S. president said Monday he was thinking about flying to Turkey, where Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed direct talks with Ukraine.

Since that offer, the Kremlin has not confirmed whether Putin or any other official will actually show up, and President Zelenskyy is pushing for a commitment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): I am ready to be in Turkey. Unfortunately, the world has not received a clear response from Russia regarding numerous proposals for a cease fire, Russian shelling and assaults continue. Moscow has remained silent all day regarding the proposal for a direct meeting, a very strange silence.

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CHURCH: Meanwhile, Ukraine's European allies say they will pursue more sanctions against Russia after Moscow ignored calls for a 30-day cease fire.

Ukrainian parliament member Kira Rudik joins me now from Kyiv. Appreciate you being with us.

Hello, Rosemary, and thank you so much for having me.

CHURCH: Good to see you. So, how likely is it do you think that Russia's President Vladimir Putin will show up for these direct peace talks in Turkey with Ukraine's President Zelenskyy, given Putin was the one who actually proposed these talks?

[02:30:00]

KIRA RUDIK, UKRAINIAN MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: Well, we are very skeptical here. And there are always chances that he will show up. But what's more likely is that he will send some delegation with some absurd proposals. And he didn't accept the ceasefire, Russia continued attacking Ukraine, from what we hear this night. And they ignored the proposals from President Trump. They ignored the proposals from our European allies.

So right now, Rosemary, it's this really absurd situation where Ukraine, as a victim of aggression, has to persuade everyone, including President Trump, that we are interested in peace. We want peace. And that the only reason for the aggression is that Russia doesn't want peace. OK? We are doing this.

And this is why President Zelenskyy is raising the stakes, saying, OK, we are ready for anything. We are ready for negotiation. We are ready for 30 days ceasefire. We are ready to go ahead with whatever will work to stop killing. And you see, right now, in this game of who will blink, our people are dying. We will not blink. So, stakes are raised. Putin needs to show up, and then we hope that the U.S. support will be there to pressure Putin into the ceasefire and then into stopping the aggression.

CHURCH: And you mentioned President Trump, he is saying now, that he's thinking about flying to Turkey for these talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials. How likely is it that he will do that do you think? And how significant would it be? And would it be more likely that we would see Putin if this is the case?

RUDIK: Of course, it'll be crucial if President Trump will show up. However, we have seen many changes even when there were strong commitments. So right now, we just heard like, you know, this very vague proposal. Of course, we are calling for President Trump to come in, and if Putin wouldn't show up, that would be, again, a clear message that the world needs to hear that you cannot negotiate with Putin.

That the only way to go ahead is to arm Ukraine to the teeth, because Russia only understands the language of strength, the language of power. Unfortunately, we had to reiterate it over and over. And if there are more facts that need to be shown to the new U.S. administration about things that we all have learned 11 years ago, we are ready to do that. We are ready to go ahead.

So, we hope that President Trump will show up. But, if not, again, the ball is not in Ukraine's court and the problem is not with Ukraine, something that we thought was very clear from the day one.

CHURCH: So, why do you think it is that the Kremlin isn't confirming whether Putin or any other Russian official will be at these direct peace talks particularly, as we've mentioned, after Putin was the one who proposed them?

RUDIK: Rosemary, the only goal of this proposal was to show the whole world, including the global south, that Russia wouldn't play to any ultimatums by the European leaders, that the world will be playing by Russian rules. Unfortunately, this is what is happening because Russia did not accept the ceasefire and the sanctions were not implemented immediately.

And he's just trying to win more time because Russia was preparing for the summer campaign and they just need a chance to continue doing this. And this is what Putin is doing, dragging everyone, is this like ongoing, never ending negotiations instead of stopping the war. This is why everyone was asking for the 30-day ceasefire first because we know that there cannot be negotiations under the constant attacks, and this is what Putin is trying to avoid.

CHURCH: Kira Rudik in Kyiv, many thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.

RUDIK: Thank you. And glory to Ukraine.

CHURCH: And we'll be right back.

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[02:38:38]

CHURCH: Church officials say hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Portugal on Monday to pray for the new Pope Leo XIV. They gathered around the Sanctuary of Fatima, a pilgrimage site, where some Catholics believed the Virgin Mary appeared to children and told them to pray for world peace.

The Pope echoed the same message on Sunday, calling for no more war in his first Sunday blessing. Officials say people from the U.S., Poland, Taiwan, and beyond were present at the service.

It's college graduation season here in the United States and who better to give an inspiring send off into the brave world? The seven- time Olympic champion, Simone Biles. The GOAT, or Greatest of All Time as she's known, gave the keynote speech at Washington University in St. Louis on Monday and here's part of her message to the graduates.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIMONE BILES, SEVEN-TIME OLYMPICS GYMNAST CHAMPION: In order to be the greatest you of all time, embrace the opportunity to be a leader. Keep an eye on the rear view mirror as you pave a trail for those who may look up to you, who may want to follow in your path, as you never know who may be watching. The world doesn't need you to be perfect. It needs you to be bold. It needs you to care and to keep going even when things don't go as planned. So, go out there and write your own story, only one that you can tell.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[02:40:00]

CHURCH: An inspiring message there. And according to the university, the school designed a podium specifically for Biles' petite frame. The university also awarded Biles an honorary doctorate of Humane Letters degree.

I want to thank you so much for joining us. I'm Rosemary Church. We are waiting for President Trump's imminent arrival in the Saudi capital and we'll keep you updated, of course. For now, "World Sport" is coming up next.

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[02:45:00]

(WORLD SPORT)

[02:50:34]

CHURCH: Hello, everyone. I'm Rosemary Church here at CNN Center in Atlanta. I do want to bring up some live pictures as we watch Air Force One land in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Of course, President Donald Trump is on board that plane. He is at the start of his four-day trip to the Middle East. This is the first of the significant foreign overseas trip for his second term as president. Of course, we do know that he went to the funeral of Pope Leo XIV.

But, this is his first really big significant overseas trip and the expectations are high. Several Trump administration officials are saying that the president's top priority is obtaining economic agreements with the focus on trade and investment. And mostly, these sorts of trips overseas are supposed to be focused on diplomacy, but this is less about diplomacy, more about these agreements. It seems that is the top priority.

Let's go to our Paula Hancocks, who is there in Abu Dhabi, watching this. And of course, the main question at this juncture, Paula, is what are the expectations? What is likely to come out of this particular -- this first leg here in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rosemary, the fact that the U.S. president has chosen Saudi Arabia, once again in his second term, as he did in his first term, to be the first official country he visits as -- apart from Rome as you just mentioned, that is significant. We are expecting some significant deals to be announced over the next four days in Saudi Arabia, then when he goes on to Qatar, and then when he comes here to the UAE.

Now, I think we can expect some eye-watering numbers to be coming out in the coming days when it comes to the kind of investment that the U.S. president is hoping for in the U.S. economy. Starting off here in Saudi Arabia, we did hear from Saudi Arabia, initially, that they were going to invest some $600 billion over four years in the United States economy. And then, we heard from the president himself saying, why not make it $1 trillion? It's an even number.

So, we are expecting some very significant deals to come out here. And that really shows the more transactional nature of this U.S. president. The fact that this is the first official trip that he is undertaking, the fact that the Gulf Nations are the ones that he has chosen to visit first, it shows his priorities.

Now, of course, there are geopolitics involved as well as there always is. The U.S. president is looking for those big deals, but he is also accepting the fact that the Gulf Nations are very much involved in mediation when it comes to geopolitics at the moment. Saudi Arabia, for example, it has hosted just recently talks between Russia and the United States.

We've seen Qatar, just in the last 24 hours, was a key mediator in securing the release of the last-known living hostage that is American out of Gaza, Edan Alexander. And then also, in the UAE, we see the UAE has been key in negotiating, for example, prisoner exchanges between Ukraine and Russia.

So, these three countries that he is visiting first up are really key international players at this point. They are positioning themselves as mediators, as neutral interlocutors, which is another key reason why the U.S. president has chosen these countries to visit first. Rosemary?

CHURCH: Right. And -- and then Paula, of course, the other part of this story is Qatar's offer of a jumbo jet to President Trump. That has caused quite a stir back in the United States, even some Republicans are not happy with the prospect of that. What more are you learning about that possible gifting of a jumbo jet to a U.S. president?

[02:55:00]

HANCOCKS: Yes, there are certainly plenty that are criticizing the U.S. president for this, questioning the highly contentious, ethical, and legal issues that would surround a foreign country donating a jumbo jet, which could be somewhere in the realms of $400 million, to a sitting U.S. president. Now, we've heard from the president himself, he has highlighted the fact that it is free, it is a gift, and really focusing on that part of it.

We have heard from one Qatari spokesperson, who has said that this is not a done deal at this point, that the plan is currently under consideration. It remains under review by respective legal departments, and no decision has been made. So obviously, this has some way to go before it is a done deal. And certainly, there are many critics in Washington that are pushing against this, as you say, even within President Trump's own party. This is not just the Democrats, who at one point have said that this is just Trump's latest grift.

So, there are issues that have to be worked through. It is problematic in many ways according to those that believe that this shouldn't be accepted. It is an issue that we know is close to Donald Trump's heart. He has spoken of it frequently in his first term as well, that he was not happy with Air Force One, that he wanted a replacement. We know that the replacements that are being worked through by Boeing have been beset by delays, by issues, and potentially, this is the other option that he thought he could work through.

But, we certainly haven't heard the last of this. And it is by no means settled that this will be the way that it is happening. But, it is interesting that it does come out. It is being announced, or at least, announced through leaks just as he is a day away from going to Qatar. It shows the financial clout that these Gulf Nations have. It shows that for a very transactional president, these are countries which are able to sustain those kind of transactions.

The sorts of figures that we are going to be seeing over the next few days will be significant when it comes to investment in the United States. And of course, that plane is separate from what we are likely to hear of these deals. But, it's certainly something that we haven't heard the end of. Rosemary?

CHURCH: All right. Our thanks to Paula Hancocks, joining us live from Abu Dhabi. And I want to bring in Nabih Bulos now, the Middle East Bureau Chief of the Los Angeles Times. Thank you so much for talking with us. And of course, we are watching now, Air Force One has arrived there with President Donald Trump on board in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Much expectation or high expectations, it has to be said, on both sides here, on both sides of the equation.

Donald Trump expecting a number of deals here. Talk to us about what you are learning about this and how far it might go, whether the expectations will be higher than the outcome perhaps.

NABIH BULOS, MIDDLE EAST BUREAU CHIEF, LOS ANGELES TIMES: Well, in fact, right now, I'm actually at the Ritz Carlton where we have the Saudi U.S. Business Summit going on. In fact, I mean, as I'm speaking to you right now, I'm seeing people, I guess, milling around and talking to each other and in theory, I mean, they're forging deals.

And the idea here is that we're talking about really a wholesale push towards a large amount of deals involving A.I., cyber security, health, tourism. And really this place actually, right now, is a showcase for what Saudi Arabia has to offer. So, for example, if I go actually just inside, a bit inside here, you can find actually, I mean, a gallery of various Saudi projects. Of course, we've all heard about the LINE, NEOM, Diriyah, et cetera, et cetera. And that's what we're seeing over here.

So really, this is essentially a big commercial, right now, for Saudi Arabia. And it seems clear that there will be deals of this sort being announced throughout the day. In fact, I believe we're going to have a deal announced in about an hour. That's supposed to be a big one with Raytheon and a few others. And there's actually quite a lot of anticipation with A.I. deals as well.

CHURCH: So, how much excitement is there, there in Riyadh, with the arrival there of Donald Trump? And of course, his first major trip, he has chosen to arrive there in Riyadh. Of course, we know he'll be going to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates as well. But this is the main part of this trip, isn't it?

BULOS: Well, the potential for all this is huge. I mean, it's worth noting that when we talk about numbers like $600 billion and $1 trillion, it's important to put those numbers in context, which is to say that I think, I mean, if we're talking about $1 trillion in investments, that is actually equivalent to Saudi Arabia's GDP for one year.

So, I mean, I think it's important to note for your viewers that the numbers will be probably less than that in terms of investments. But I mean, we're also talking about hundreds of billions of dollars investments into the U.S. when it comes to various projects.