One of the strategic thrusts of the opening months of Trump’s second terms has been aimed at deepening America’s economic engagement with the leading economies of the Gulf. Thus, the first leg of his trip to the region resulted in a template for deeper US-Saudi ties.

The US president's foreign policy has been laid out unashamedly this week - it has been purely transactional - and in the Middle East it might just pay dividends. But might it work elsewhere, most of all to end Russia's war with Ukraine?

US President Donald Trump didn’t show up empty-handed on the first international trip of his second term. Joining him in Saudi Arabia were almost three dozen CEOs of America’s biggest companies, including Big Tech giants that signed $600 billion worth of deals.

President Donald J. Trump’s trip to the Middle East on May 13-16 comes on the heels of more than three months of whirlwind activity in US foreign policy where the region has been a higher priority than it was in the early months of the previous US administration.