Major Arms and Alliance Deals for Saudi Arabia and Qatar Amid Trump Family Business Ties

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Across 2025, the Trump administration made a cluster of major foreign-policy and arms decisions favoring Saudi Arabia and Qatar during the same period that both Gulf governments were directing money to the president's family businesses. In May 2025, Trump signed a $142 billion arms package with Saudi Arabia that the White House called the largest defense sales agreement in history. In November 2025, Trump approved the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Riyadh over a Pentagon intelligence warning, designated Saudi Arabia a major non-NATO ally, and signed a U.S.-Saudi Strategic Defense Agreement. Over the same stretch, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund's golf league held tournaments at Trump-owned courses, the Trump Organization launched a series of Trump-branded towers and resorts in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and Qatar donated a roughly $400 million jet for use as Air Force One. The convergence has drawn conflict-of-interest objections from government-ethics groups and from lawmakers in both parties, while the administration maintains that the deals serve American workers and national security and that the president is walled off from his businesses.

The $142 Billion Saudi Arms Package

On May 13, 2025, during the first major foreign trip of his second term, Trump signed a weapons agreement with Saudi Arabia in Riyadh that the White House described as "the largest defense sales agreement in history," valued at roughly $142 billion. The package covered air force and air-and-missile-defense systems, maritime and border security, and communications upgrades supplied by more than a dozen U.S. defense firms, including Lockheed Martin, RTX, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and General Atomics. It formed the centerpiece of a broader Saudi commitment—first floated in January and expanded during Trump's visit—to invest $600 billion in the United States, a figure Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman later raised to nearly $1 trillion during a November White House visit.

Defense analysts cautioned that the headline number was likely to overstate what would actually be delivered. The Stimson Center noted that the deal closely resembled a $110 billion package Trump announced with Riyadh in 2017, of which government-to-government arms notifications between 2017 and 2025 had amounted to about $34.6 billion, and completed transactions to roughly $30 billion. The center observed that $142 billion would equal about 176 percent of Saudi Arabia's entire 2024 defense budget, suggesting the commitment was "more likely an optimistic ceiling" than a firm order book. Annelle Sheline of the Quincy Institute similarly told Responsible Statecraft that many of the initial commitments might not translate into actual weapons purchases.

The F-35 Sale and Pentagon Objections

Saudi Arabia had long sought the F-35 Lightning II, the most advanced U.S. fighter, and reporting in November 2025 indicated Riyadh's request for as many as 48 aircraft had cleared an initial Pentagon review. On November 13, The New York Times reported that a classified assessment by the Defense Intelligence Agency—part of the Defense Department—warned that the sale could expose the jet's stealth, electronic-warfare, and mission-data technology to China, either through espionage or through Saudi Arabia's deepening military ties with Beijing. Riyadh has purchased ballistic missiles from China and receives Chinese assistance in domestic missile production. A second concern flagged in the reporting was whether the sale would erode Israel's "qualitative military edge," the U.S. commitment to keep Israel's forces more advanced than those of its neighbors; Israel is the only Middle Eastern operator of the F-35.

On November 17, Trump said publicly that the United States would sell the aircraft to Saudi Arabia, and he reaffirmed the decision on November 18 during the crown prince's Washington visit. NPR reported that Trump did not elaborate on how he weighed the Pentagon's warning. To limit the technology risk, reporting indicated any Saudi jets would be a less capable export version than Israel's customized F-35I, without source-code access or indigenous weapons integration. Bradley Bowman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies argued that constant U.S. upgrades would blunt the value of any secrets China might have already stolen, noting that a 2013 Defense Science Board report had found Chinese cyberattacks accessed data on the program years earlier.

As of the first half of 2026, the sale remained a declared policy rather than a completed transfer. Defence Security Asia reported that no public Defense Security Cooperation Agency notification for a Saudi F-35 case had appeared, meaning the deal still required formal congressional review under the Arms Export Control Act before final execution. Estimates put the package at 48 aircraft worth $5.3 to $5.7 billion, with deliveries not expected before 2029.

Major Non-NATO Ally and the Strategic Defense Agreement

At a black-tie dinner on November 18, 2025, Trump announced that he was formally designating Saudi Arabia a major non-NATO ally, making it the 20th country to hold the status, alongside Israel, Japan, South Korea, and Qatar. The designation, made under the Arms Export Control Act, grants benefits in defense trade and security cooperation but, as the White House and legal analysts noted, carries no mutual-defense commitment. The same day, Trump and the crown prince signed the U.S.-Saudi Strategic Defense Agreement, which the White House fact sheet said would make it easier for U.S. firms to operate in the kingdom, secure Saudi "burden-sharing funds" to defray U.S. costs, and affirm Washington as Riyadh's primary strategic partner. The parties also announced a purchase of nearly 300 American tanks, a civil nuclear cooperation declaration, an artificial-intelligence memorandum of understanding, and a critical-minerals framework.

The defense agreement drew a demand for explanation from Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who said the F-35 sale raised "major concerns" about protecting U.S. military technology and preserving Israel's edge, and that a security agreement concluded without Senate approval was "very troubling" and would be nonbinding and easily reversed by a future administration. Nonproliferation experts also raised concerns about the civil nuclear declaration given Saudi Arabia's past statements about potentially pursuing nuclear weapons.

LIV Golf at Trump-Owned Courses

Since 2022, LIV Golf—the breakaway professional tour financed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund chaired by the crown prince—has held tournaments at Trump-owned courses including Doral in Miami, Bedminster in New Jersey, and Trump National in the Washington area. Court filings in the PGA Tour's litigation against LIV revealed that PIF owns roughly 93 percent of the league and pays 100 percent of its event costs. The 2026 schedule again placed LIV events at Trump National in Virginia and at Bedminster.

According to income statements in court filings reviewed by Forbes, Trump received about $800,000 for hosting a 2022 LIV event and roughly $950,000 for a 2023 tournament, which the outlet estimated at around $6 million over four years. That sum was less than many individual LIV players earned, some of whom signed contracts worth tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. The events nonetheless delivered prestige and traffic to Trump properties after the PGA of America moved its 2022 championship away from Bedminster following the January 6 Capitol riot. Trump's 2025 financial disclosure listed his Doral resort generating $121.9 million in golf-and-hotel revenue and Bedminster $37.6 million, though those figures reflect all activity at the resorts, not LIV payments alone. Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), founded by associates of the murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, has called for the Justice Department and Congress to investigate the arrangement. In early 2026, PIF pulled its funding from LIV as the league sought new financial partners.

The Trump Organization's Saudi Real Estate

The Trump Organization, run by the president's sons Donald Jr. and Eric, has rapidly expanded its Saudi footprint through Dar Global, the London-listed international arm of the Saudi developer Dar Al Arkan, which has close ties to the Saudi government. The partners launched sales of the 47-story Trump Tower Jeddah—a roughly $533 million tower on the Jeddah Corniche—in December 2024. On September 29, 2025, they announced Trump Plaza Jeddah, a $1 billion mixed-use development, and in January 2026 unveiled a 2.6 million-square-meter golf resort in Diriyah outside Riyadh, with the projects together valued at around $10 billion. According to figures reported by The New York Times, Dar Global's purchase of rights to the Trump name generated $21.9 million for the family business in the prior year; a Trump entity that collects Saudi licensing fees reported $15.9 million in a separate accounting.

Jared Kushner and Affinity Partners

The sharpest version of the conflict runs through the president's son-in-law. Jared Kushner holds no official government title, yet he has become one of the administration's most active foreign-policy figures, participating in negotiations over Gaza, the Russia-Ukraine war, and the U.S.-Iran nuclear standoff. He does so while running Affinity Partners, the private-equity firm he founded in 2021 immediately after leaving the first Trump administration—a firm capitalized almost entirely by the Gulf governments he is negotiating with.

According to a March 2026 SEC filing reported by Bloomberg, Affinity held $6.2 billion in assets under management at the end of 2025, up nearly 30 percent from the prior year, having grown from $3 billion at the start of 2024. The anchor investor is Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, which put $2 billion into Affinity in 2021—reportedly forced through by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman over the objections of the PIF's own investment committee, which had rated Affinity's management "unsatisfactory in all aspects." As of 2024 the PIF alone had paid Affinity $87 million in management fees. Sovereign funds linked to the UAE and Qatar have invested hundreds of millions more. In late 2025 Affinity teamed with the PIF to buy the video-game company Electronic Arts for $55 billion.

Two features sharpen the objection. First, because Kushner serves as a government "volunteer" rather than an employee, he is exempt from the financial disclosure laws that bind official White House staff. Second, a March 2026 New York Times report found his firm was actively soliciting additional Saudi money even as he participated in the Iran negotiations—reversing a pledge he made in December 2024 that he would not raise new capital during Trump's second term.

Congressional Democrats have opened multiple inquiries. Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Robert Garcia asked the White House in March 2026 whether Kushner was using government influence for personal gain, and Representative Jamie Raskin launched a formal investigation into what he called a "glaring and incurable conflict of interest," writing that Kushner "cannot both be a diplomat and a financial pawn of the Saudi monarchy at the same time." Raskin demanded Kushner's communications with Saudi, Emirati, Qatari, and Israeli officials back to 2022. Because Republicans control the House, Democrats cannot compel his testimony.

Kushner rejects the framing. He told CBS's "60 Minutes" that what critics call conflicts of interest he and envoy Steve Witkoff call "experience and trusted relationships that we have throughout the world." The White House called the scrutiny the "same, tired narrative" and said Kushner "only acts in the best interests of the American public."

Qatar: From "Funder of Terrorism" to Ally

Trump's posture toward Qatar reversed sharply from his first term. In June 2017, backing a blockade of Qatar by Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, Trump publicly accused Doha of being "a funder of terrorism at a very high level" and suggested the pressure campaign could mark "the beginning of the end" of terrorism—a stance that then contradicted his own secretary of state, who was urging the blockade be eased. By 2018 Trump had softened, and in his second term he has treated Qatar as a close ally, praising its mediation between Israel and Hamas.

The Qatari Diar Golf Resort

On April 30, 2025, the Trump Organization's partner Dar Global signed an agreement with Qatari Diar to build a Trump International Golf Club and Trump-branded villas within the roughly $5.5 billion Simaisma coastal development north of Doha. Qatari Diar is a state-owned real estate company established by the Qatar Investment Authority, the country's sovereign wealth fund, and is chaired by a Qatari government minister. That state involvement appeared to conflict with the Trump Organization's second-term ethics pledge, which permits foreign business deals but explicitly bars partnerships with foreign governments. Asked about the apparent tension, the Trump Organization said its formal agreement was solely with Dar Global, not Qatari Diar—though Eric Trump's own statement announcing the project credited both Qatari Diar and Dar Global. Noah Bookbinder, president of the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said a president should be making decisions in the national interest rather than his own.

The $1.96 Billion Drone Sale

On March 26, 2025, the State Department's Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a proposed $1.96 billion foreign military sale to Qatar of eight MQ-9B drones and associated munitions—including Hellfire missiles, Joint Direct Attack Munition kits, and guided bombs—describing the package as a deterrent to regional threats that would strengthen Qatar's homeland defense. Qatar hosts Al Udeid Air Base, the largest U.S. military installation in the Middle East, and is the second-largest U.S. foreign military sales partner, with more than $26 billion in cumulative defense sales. The principal contractors included General Atomics, Lockheed Martin, RTX, Boeing, and L3Harris.

The Air Force One Jet

Qatar's Ministry of Defense donated a Boeing 747-8 worth roughly $400 million to the U.S. Defense Department as an unconditional gift, and the Air Force retrofitted it for presidential use. Trump began flying aboard it as Air Force One on July 1, 2026. Under an arrangement reported by ABC News, ownership would transfer to Trump's presidential library foundation shortly before he leaves office, allowing continued personal use. The gift drew bipartisan criticism as the most expensive ever offered to a sitting U.S. president.

The Broader Gulf Crypto Pattern

The clearest documented case of a Gulf state's money reaching a Trump family venture during active policymaking involves the United Arab Emirates rather than Qatar. An investment firm tied to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan—the UAE's national security adviser—bought a 49 percent stake in the Trump family's crypto company World Liberty Financial for about $500 million shortly before the inauguration, and a Tahnoon-linked firm, MGX, used World Liberty's USD1 stablecoin to settle a $2 billion investment in the exchange Binance. Weeks later, the administration loosened export controls on advanced AI chips to the UAE, over national-security objections. The White House denied any link between the crypto dealings and the chip decision. Trump's 2025 financial disclosure showed his crypto ventures generating roughly $1.2 billion, and reported income from Trump properties in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. His June 2026 disclosure itemized those licensing and development fees: $10.4 million from a UAE property, $9 million from a Saudi development, and $5 million from a Qatar property—money flowing from the same countries where the administration was simultaneously making arms and alliance decisions. No comparable Qatari sovereign investment in the crypto venture has been publicly documented; Qatar's principal financial ties to Trump run through the golf resort, the jet, and property revenue.

Ethics and Legal Questions

Government-ethics specialists say the pattern raises the risk that foreign governments can seek to influence U.S. policy through business dealings with the president's family. Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, said Americans expect a president to work for them "not for profit." The White House has consistently rejected the conflict-of-interest framing. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has stated that neither the president nor his family "have ever engaged, or will ever engage, in conflicts of interest," and Eric Trump has said the president's investments are held in discretionary accounts managed by independent third parties, denying that the family selects or directs specific investments. Trump himself, asked about his 2025 income, said outside institutions manage his money and that he does not speak with them.

The administration and its defenders also argue the arms deals rest on conventional strategic logic. The White House casts the Saudi package as supporting American defense jobs, shifting cost burdens onto Riyadh, and strengthening deterrence against Iran—concerns that intensified after Iran struck Saudi and Gulf-based U.S. facilities during the 2026 war. Deepening U.S.-Gulf security ties is a long-running, bipartisan trend, and Qatar's role hosting U.S. forces and mediating regional conflicts predates the current business entanglements. The public record does not establish whether these decisions would have been made on the merits regardless of the financial ties, or whether the F-35 approval over the Pentagon's objection reflected strategic judgment alone. What is documented is that the two governments directed money to the president's family across the same months those decisions were made.