Trump's win has UAE royals eyeing US deals

Elon Musk and Donald Trump's alliance has Gulf wealth funds that are eyeing more US deals. Many wealth funds from the Gulf nations have business ties to Musk, and executives there are hopeful Musk's presence will help drive more deals.

A prominent member of the UAE royal family met with Elon Musk in the weeks ahead of the US presidential election. A few days after the election results, the leaders of Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Trump and Musk, were pictured together.

A Bloomberg report quoting sources showed Saudi Arabia's Yasir Al Rumayyan and the United Arab Emirates' Sheikh Tahnoon Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, among others in the gulf nation's upper echelons of finance, see Musk's membership in Trump's inner circle as a huge opportunity.

Trump, who had deep economic links to the oil-rich area before becoming president, saw US relations with the region strengthened during his first term. According to Bloomberg sources, Gulf funds are becoming more and more hopeful that having Musk on board would increase their chances of winning agreements in the US.

This is especially true in politically delicate sectors like technology and AI, where the Biden administration imposed stringent regulations. Wealth funds in Gulf nations control $4 trillion in assets.

The connections between Musk and his upcoming role as a co-chair of Trump's Department of Government Efficiency is a major factor. The $925 billion dollar PIF, headed by Al Rumayyan, was one of Musk's xAI investors in an earlier round of funding. That investment has not been made public. A more recent round also received funding from Qatar's wealth fund.

When Musk took over Twitter and separately financed xAI, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal's business, Kingdom Holding, was one of the top investors. Investors in the Twitter acquisition included the $510 billion Qatar Investment Authority.

In 2020, Sheikh Tahnoon's $245 billion company acquired a majority interest in a fund that supported Musk's SpaceX.