President Donald Trump became the first U.S. president to officially visit Qatar on Wednesday, and he received a grand reception suited to the historic occasion.
Trump departed Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for Qatar, marking his embarkment on the second leg of his trip to the Middle East this week.
Qatari F-15s met Air Force One in the sky and escorted it to Doha.
The emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, greeted Trump on the tarmac when he arrived in the capital.
The pomp continued as Trump’s motorcade traveled to the Amiri Diwan.
During Trump and al-Thani’s official meeting, Trump underscored their previous meeting in 2019 at the White House and emphasized Qatar’s involvement in working to bring peace between Russia and Ukraine.
“But I just want to thank you for everything, and maybe in particular, our friendship. It’s been a very loyal, great, beautiful friendship, and the job you’ve done is second to none,” Trump told al-Thani.
The emir expressed that he was honored to welcome Trump as the first sitting U.S. president on an official visit to Qatar.
“We’re extremely honored to have you here. We’re very excited, very happy,” al-Thani said. “It’s a historic visit.”
“And I don’t know if you know that you are the first American president to officially…visit Qatar, so we’re very honored,” he added.
Qatari and U.S. officials later signed various deals and agreements, and the White House says Trump secured $1.2 trillion in economic commitments in Qatar.
One such agreement was a statement of intent on defense cooperation between the countries. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed the statement along with a Qatari counterpart. They also signed a deal for MQ-9B aircraft.
A White House fact sheet notes that Qatar has agreed with General Atomics to pay close to $2 billion for the remotely piloted MQ-9Bs.
Trump and Al-Thani also signed a broader joint declaration of cooperation between America and Qatar.
Boeing and Qatar inked a massive deal, too, where the company will sell the country 160 aircraft. Between Boeing and GE Aerospace, the Qataris are buying a total of 210 planes for a whopping $96 billion, a White House fact sheet notes.
“This historic agreement will support 154,000 U.S. jobs annually, totaling over 1 million jobs in the United States during the course of production and delivery of this deal,” the White House said.
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