The News
US President Donald Trump’s visit to Doha, his second stop on his Gulf tour, produced a major plane deal, but not the one you’d expect.
Qatar Airways ordered up to 210 Boeing widebody jets with GE Aerospace engines, an agreement valued at $96 billion. The White House said the deal would create over 1 million jobs over its duration and was part of $243.5 billion in agreements spanning energy, infrastructure, and technology. (The headline figure from Doha: $1.2 trillion in “economic commitments” — about six times the country’s GDP.)
This was the first state visit by a US president to Qatar, a gas-rich nation with one of the world’s highest per capita incomes and home to a major US air base. At the emir’s palace, Trump highlighted his personal friendship with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and praised the “perfecto” white marble construction. Administration officials shared images of the opulent space, which Trump called a “nice house.”