The Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building, was illuminated in the stars and stripes of the American flag to honor U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.
Trump is not the first U.S. president to visit the U.A.E. — an honor that belongs to President George W. Bush — but his visit could be the most consequential, and it is also likely to be greeted more warmly by Emiratis.
Whereas Bush visited in 2008, on his way out of office and with the Iraq War near its worst, Trump’s visit comes in the start of his second term, with hopes for peace and expanded commerce in the Middle East.
In his first term, Trump worked closely with the U.A.E. to craft the Abraham Accords, a peace deal between the Emirates and Israel that soon included Bahrain and quickly expanded to other Arab and Muslim states.
Not one new Arab or Muslim state joined the Accords during the presidency of Joe Biden, but Trump — who has already visited Saudi Arabia and Qatar on this visit to the region — promises to pick up where he left off.
Dubai is crucial to Trump’s vision of an “India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor” (IMEC) trade route.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
