Gulf States See Trump as Ally They Can Do Business With

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About two weeks before the American presidential election, Donald J. Trump sat for an interview with a widely watched Arabic-language TV channel owned by Saudi Arabia and praised the kingdom’s crown prince, calling him a “visionary” and a “friend.”

Mr. Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, did not grant any interviews to Arabic-language international media during her truncated campaign.

The contrast was not lost on observers in the resource-rich Gulf states, where a certain comfort with the idea of another Trump presidency came across in the weeks ahead of the election on Tuesday.

“Obviously, we worked with President Trump before, so we know him and we can find a way to work with him very well,” the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, told CNN last week during the kingdom’s annual investment forum nicknamed “Davos in the Desert.”

During his last presidency, Mr. Trump fostered personal relationships with Gulf leaders, offered strong defense support for their countries while steering away from criticizing their human rights records. This time around, the Gulf states will likely look to the new Trump administration for help in ending the devastating war in the Middle East, firm security guarantees and American investment as they try to diversify the region’s economic base away from almost total reliance on energy.

Mr. Trump’s Oct. 20 interview with the Saudi-owned television channel, Al Arabiya, underscored the strong connections that the former president has forged with Gulf leaders over the years.