LIVE Tech Blog — Trump's Gulf Tour 2025
A LIVE blog of breaking news during Trump's Gulf Tour 2025
President Donald J. Trump begins the first international trip of his presidency tomorrow, arriving in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. With AI export controls, technology investment and bilateral technology agreements high on the agenda, Middle East AI News will be reporting on announcements throughout this week.
Whilst the Whitehouse has yet to confirm final details for the President's Gulf visit, he is expected to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and then the United Arab Emirates between Tuesday May 13th and Friday May 16th.
Here's President Trump's schedule, as far as we know it:
Tuesday, May 13th - Bilateral meetings and Saudi-US Investment Forum
Wednesday, May 14th - Gulf-U.S. summit in Riyadh. Departs for Qatar.
Thursday, May 15th - Travels to the UAE.
Friday, May 16th - Trump's Middle East visit concludes
We’ll be sharing live updates, breaking news and exclusive announcements throughout Trump’s visit
Read our full preview of Trump’s Gulf tour here.
LIVE BLOG — Tuesday, 13-May-25
REFRESH PAGE FOR LATEST UPDATES - ALL TIMES GST / UAE
09:45 [8:45 KSA] — Saudi-US Investment Forum
Tech leaders expected to speak at today’s Saudi-US Investment Froum include:
Cristiano Amon, President and CEO, Qualcomm Incorporated
Jensen Huang, Founder & CEO, NVIDIA
Andy Jassy, President and CEO, Amazon U.S.A
Dr. Alex Karp, Co-Founder & CEO, Palantir Technologies
Arvind Krishna, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, IBM
Elon Musk, CEO, SpaceX & Founder x AI U.S.A
Ruth Porat, President & Chief Investment Officer, Alphabet and Google
David Sacks, White House AI and Crypto Czar
06:00 — Saudi-US Investment Forum begins this morning
The Saudi-US Investment Forum begins at about 9am this morning a the King Abdulaziz International Conference Centre. President Trump is expected to attend the event later in the day and witness some key announcements.
05:45 — US reaches trade agreement with China
The Trump administration has reached an agreement with China to retain U.S. reciprocal tariffs on China, after successful negotiations over the weekend in Geneva, Agree to future trade discussions. (USTR via X.com)
LIVE BLOG — Monday, 12-May-25
20:45 — Saudi Cabinet optimistic about President Trump visit
The Saudi Cabinet expressed optimism that the visit would serve to deepen the strategic partnership between Riyadh and Washington. (Arab News)
20:45 — President Trump departs for Saudi Arabia
President Trump has boarded Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews (JBA) for the first part of his long flight to Saudi Arabia. (Media reports)
18:55 — Crown Prince announces new Saudi AI powerhouse
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced a new national AI company called HUMAIN. To drive AI innovation across the entire AI value chain. The timing of this announcement may well set the stage for US partnerships yet to be announced this week! Read more.
14:00 — Qatar government shares US partnership video
Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has shared a video on X.com as a tribute to more than 50 Years of partnership with the USA.
Qatar is expected to sign an order - in President Trump’s presence - for 100 widebody jets from Boeing, according to a recent Bloomberg report. (Reuters)
12:00 — New $50 million fund to connect GCC & SV
Wyld VC, a new $50 million fund has been launched to fund early-stage AI ventures in Silicon Valley and the GCC. The fund is founded by venture capitalist Tala Al Jabri and funded by the family office of Lawrence E. Golub. Read more.
10:50 — Scale AI to open Riyadh office
In comments made to Bloomberg, San Francisco-based Scale AI confirmed plans to open Riyadh office by the year-end. The announcement follows regional deals signed in Qatar and the UAE earlier this year. Read more.
08:23 — Trump claims ‘a total reset’ in China-US trade relations
Jsut one day before the President’s arrival in Saudi Arabia, The White House has said that it will announce a trade deal with China, following bilateral trade talks in Geneva. Trump has called the deal a 'total reset' of China-US trade relations, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who is leading the talks, said “substantial progress” had been made. (POLITICO)
06:50 — Qatar calls Trump jet offer reports ‘inaccurate’
According to Politico, Qatar has denied reports that Trump is preparing to accept a luxury jet from the country’s royal family. (POLITICO)
05:50 — Rubio to accompany Trump to KSA, Qatar
Secretary of State Marco Rubio will now accompany President Trump to Saudi Arabia and Qatar (“May 11-14” according to Dos). Secretary Rubio’s will meet with senior officials regarding global and regional challenges, bilateral trade and investment. He will then travel to Antalya, Türkiye, May 14-16 for the NATO Informal Foreign Ministers meeting. See full statement from US DoS.
Check back here often for breaking news and updates from President Donald J. Trump’s 2025 Gulf tour (May 13-16)
Note this blog is AI- and technology-focused, so may not cover all news surrounding the President’s Gulf tour.