Bahrain's crown prince announced on Wednesday his intention to invest more than $17 billion in the United States during a meeting with President Donald Trump focused on trade, Iran, and regional security issues.
As part of the plan, Bahrain was set to sign an agreement worth about $7 billion for its national carrier, Gulf Air, to purchase 12 Boeing (BA.N) aircraft with an option for six more and 40 General Electric (GE.N) engines, according to a White House official.
"We are very pleased to announce agreements worth $17 billion coming to the United States," said Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. "And it's real. These are not fake offers."
The announcement from Prince Salman came during a visit to the Oval Office amid foreign investment transaction discussions that Trump concluded during a trip to the Middle East in May. During a visit to Riyadh, Trump secured a commitment of $600 billion from Saudi Arabia to invest in the United States and agreed to sell the Saudis a weapons package worth nearly $142 billion.
Bahrain, governed by Sunni leadership, is an important security partner of the United States, hosting the U.S. Fifth Fleet. It established ties with Israel in 2020 as part of the Abraham Accords negotiated by the United States, motivated in part by shared concerns regarding predominantly Shia Iran. Bahrain's exports face a base tariff of 10% under Trump's trade policies but have been spared from higher levies imposed on exports from other countries.
Trump stated that the two men would discuss Iran privately, which is under pressure to resume nuclear talks with the United States, while Washington and three major European countries have agreed to set the end of August as a deadline for an agreement. Israel and the United States launched strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities last month, claiming they were part of a program to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran maintains that its nuclear program is purely civilian.
The American official stated that the new agreement with Bahrain will support 30,000 American jobs and was secured with the help of Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Bahrain is expected to sign agreements with Oracle (ORCL.N) and Cisco (CSCO.O), with plans to replace Chinese servers with Cisco products, an official said.
Bahrain is also looking to increase its investments in the U.S. energy, technology, and manufacturing sectors.
The official stated that the crown prince intends to deploy capital to increase domestic aluminum production in the United States, invest in U.S. LNG production to secure energy supply, and purchase cutting-edge AI chips in partnership with American hyperscalers.
During the visit, the crown prince signed various agreements and memorandums of understanding confirming these arrangements.
One of these memos aims to advance a peaceful nuclear partnership between Bahrain and the United States. It was signed by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Bahraini Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani during a State Department visit before the Oval Office meeting.
