President Donald Trump announced a sweeping $1.2 trillion economic agreement with Qatar on Wednesday, capping what he called a “historic” trip with a series of massive deals spanning aviation, defense, energy and technology. That comes on top of $600 billion investment commitment secured in Saudi Arabia a day earlier.
Central to the announcements was a record-breaking $96 billion order from Qatar Airways for Boeing Co. BA and GE Aerospace GE.
“We just had a tremendous order of Boeing. This is Boeing, and this is General Electric,” Trump said during a roundtable with U.S. business leaders in Qatar.
“General Electric, I hear, makes the best large airplane engine in the world—by not even a contest.”
The deal includes up to 210 Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 777X aircraft, all powered by GE Aerospace engines. According to a White House fact sheet, the agreement will support 154,000 U.S. jobs annually, totaling over 1 million jobs during production and delivery.
Larry Culp, CEO of GE Aerospace, called it a historic commitment: “We’re thrilled about the commitment that Qar Airways has made to both Boeing and GE Aerospace… with the largest widebody order really in our company’s history.”
“All of these aircraft will be built in the United States, creating a significant number of jobs… This is the largest widebody aircraft order in Boeing’s history,” Boeing executive Kelly Maloney added.
Shares of GE Aerospace opened 0.7% higher reaching fresh record highs, while Boeing rose 1.9%.
The White House noted that Qatar’s deals extend beyond aerospace, with major commitments in defense, energy, infrastructure, quantum computing, and AI.
Trump also praised Raytheon Corp. RTX and General Atomics for securing deals worth $3 billion in advanced drone and counter-drone systems. The agreements will bolster Qatar’s military capabilities while supporting U.S. manufacturing jobs in defense.
In energy, U.S. firm McDermott is working on $8.5 billion in LNG infrastructure projects with QatarEnergy.
Parsons Corp. PSN secured 30 contracts valued at up to $97 billion, and Quantinuum launched a $1 billion joint venture in quantum technology with Qatari partner Al Rabban Capital.
Manufacturing, AI and Jobs: A “New Golden Age”
Trump said the investment wave is ushering in what he called a “new Golden Age” for U.S. manufacturing. He claimed tech giants including Apple Inc. AAPL and chipmakers were boosting American operations.
He highlighted Nvidia Corp. NVDA CEO Jensen Huang’s reported $600 billion investment and a separate $200 billion chip plant in Arizona, calling it the largest in the world.
“Apple’s already in for $500 billion… but now I hear they’re building all over India,” Trump said, revealing he pressured CEO Tim Cook to boost U.S. production.
“We want you to build here.”
President Donald Trump claimed the United States has the potential to attract up to $10 trillion in investments, citing pledges from Gulf allies, foreign governments, defense deals and technology expansions.
“We have a country that now has… at least $10 trillion of investment and potential investment,” Trump said, comparing it to the previous administration’s total of “half a trillion.”
Read now:
Photo: Shutterstock
Add Comment