Trump's visit: America's Middle East reset?

AWANI

U.S. President Donald Trump's first overseas trip to the Middle East raises questions about America's shifting strategy and its ability to reassert influence in the region. Assoc Prof Saeed Khan from Wayne State University provides his insights.

Transcript

00:00U.S. President Donald Trump's first overseas trip of his new administration has taken him to the Middle East,

00:06with Saudi Arabia emerging as the centerpiece of his diplomatic tour.

00:10But what does this signal about America's shifting strategy in a region where U.S. influence has waned in recent years?

00:18The question now, can America effectively reassert itself in the Middle East, or has the strategic landscape permanently shifted?

00:26We speak to Associate Professor Syed Han from Wayne State University.

00:32I think there are several takeaways from President Trump's visit to the Middle East right now.

00:38As you said, this is momentous because it is his first overseas trip in his new term of office,

00:47going to the Middle East and indicating that Saudi Arabia is arguably and presumptively the most important destination.

00:59Usually when a president travels overseas, the first place that he goes gives an indication to what his agenda is,

01:07what his policy ambitions are, but then also, of course, keeping in mind that with this particular president,

01:14his own private and personal ambitions, particularly from a financial and a commercial perspective,

01:21don't ever lag far behind.

01:24And so that is something that we have to also consider.

01:26It seems as though Saudi Arabia is certainly front and foremost for the president in the region as a way to re-engage America in the region,

01:41because it has been seen that the United States has over the past several years really withdrawn from the Middle East,

01:50in part because of the failures of President George W. Bush in his ill-begotten campaign in Iraq,

02:01nation-building, regime change, etc., which proved to be disastrous.

02:07There was, of course, also a chilling of relations under Obama because of Obama's ambivalence

02:15when it came to the overthrow of people like Hosni Mubarak in Egypt during the Arab Spring of 2011,

02:22as well as what seemed to be a carryover both by the first term of President Trump and even of President Biden

02:30of aversion to further military intervention within the region.

02:35Many of these factors then played to allowing other powers to enter the Middle East in an unprecedented way,

02:46particularly Russia and certainly to a large extent China.

02:49This seems to be Trump's effort to reverse that process and re-engage the United States.

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