UAE commits to $1.4tn US investment, White House says

The UAE has committed to a 10-year, $1.4tn investment framework in the United States after top UAE officials met President Donald Trump this week, the White House said on Friday.

The framework will “substantially increase the UAE’s existing investments in the US economy” in AI infrastructure, semiconductors, energy, and manufacturing, the White House said in a statement.

The White House did not outline how UAE investments would reach $1.4tn, with some of the deals unveiled as part of the framework having already been announced.

The only fully new deal appeared to be an investment by Emirates Global Aluminium in what would be the first new aluminum smelter in the United States in 35 years, the White House said, adding the plant “would nearly double U.S. domestic aluminum production”.

“Developing a primary aluminium smelter in the U.S. has been part of EGA’s ambitions for several years,” a spokesperson for the firm said in a statement.

The UAE is looking to deepen investment ties with Washington and is emerging as a global leader in AI, one of the sectors it is betting on to diversify its economy away from energy.

In September, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan met former US President Joe Biden, in the first visit of a UAE president to the White House, as the two leaders discussed deepening cooperation in areas such as AI, investments and space exploration.

Gulf sovereign wealth funds, including Abu Dhabi’s $330bn Mubadala, are already big U.S. investors, and Trump and his family have business ties to the region.

Source: Gulfbusiness