Some of US President Donald Trump's oil-rich Gulf allies are reviewing their investments abroad as the war in Iran puts pressure on their economies, a Gulf official said, just months after the president secured trillions in investment pledges from the region.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar together pledged to invest about $3 trillion in the US economy when Trump visited the region on his first trip abroad last year, and any change could put pressure on him to end the war.
"A number" of countries in the region have begun an internal review to determine whether force majeure clauses in foreign contracts could be used to ease some of the economic strains anticipated from the war in Iran, the official told Reuters. CNN.
The official said the change reflects increasing budgetary pressures caused by reduced energy revenues due to slowing production and export disruptions, a decline in tourism and aviation, and rising defense spending.
CNN cannot confirm which countries are reviewing their investments, but has contacted the foreign ministries of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia for comment.
The news that several Gulf states were reviewing their investments was first reported by the Financial Times, which quoted an official as saying that three of the four major economies in the region – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Qatar – were considering such moves. But the official declined to say which ones. /Telegraph/
