The Trump administration’s new national security strategy, released last week, marks a change in Washington’s approach to the region: The Middle East will no longer dominate the US agenda because of crises, the document says, but will become “a place of partnership, friendship, and investment.”
The shift — hinted at in President Donald Trump’s speech in Riyadh in May, when he spoke of “a future where the Middle East is defined by commerce, not chaos” — comes with the US having ramped up its own oil and gas output and Iran’s nuclear program having been degraded, as well as the ceasefire in Gaza, and the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria.
Gulf countries are poised to play an important role in the new US policy. The 2025 National Security Strategy argues that the region will become “a source and destination of international investment, and in industries well beyond oil and gas — including nuclear energy, AI, and defense technologies,” all of which are already Gulf priorities.
Further cooperation to secure supply chains and pursue economic partnerships in Africa is also part of the new approach.