Factbox-What links have Trump and his allies maintained with Gulf states?

Donald Trump's return to the White House has cast fresh attention on deepening U.S. ties with Gulf nations, as the U.S. president prepares to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates this week.

Trump and several of his confidants have forged multi-billion dollar business deals and engaged in quiet, behind-the-scenes diplomacy in the Gulf.

Below are some of the meetings and deals forged between Trump, his allies and the Gulf:

* Eric Trump, one of the president's sons and an executive at the Trump Organization, launched a new Trump-branded residential tower in Dubai in April, expanding the family business’s footprint in the Gulf.

* In April, real estate developers Dar Global and Qatari Diar signed a deal to develop Trump International Golf Club and villas as part of a resort project outside Doha, the Qatari capital.

* The Trump Organization announced plans to build a Trump Tower in the Saudi capital Riyadh, the second such project in the country after a previously announced tower in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.

* In 2022, Dar Global signed a deal with the Trump Organization to use the Trump brand for its $4 billion project in the Gulf state of Oman that includes a golf course, hotel and villas.

* During the 2024 election campaign, Trump hosted Qatar's ruling emir and the UAE president separately at his Mar-a-Lago residence and private club in September.

* Other key Trump allies have also maintained business ties with Gulf powers since before the end of Trump's first term in the White House in January 2021.

* Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, has on multiple occasions discussed U.S.-Saudi diplomacy with Saudi crown prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman. Kushner attended the 2023 edition of the Future Investment Initiative (FII), Saudi Arabia's annual flagship investment conference, and the 2022 soccer World Cup in Qatar.

*Assets under management at Kushner's investment company, Affinity Partners, which he launched at the end of Trump's first term, jumped 60% in 2024 to $4.8 billion after receiving a cash injection from Middle East investors, including Qatar's sovereign wealth fund and Abu Dhabi-based Lunate.

*Congressional investigators say Saudi Arabia has invested $2 billion in Kushner's Affinity Partners.

* Dina Powell McCormick, who served various roles within the Trump administration including a stint as a deputy national security adviser, was among Wall Street veterans hired to work on Saudi Aramco's first IPO in 2019. Now an executive at merchant bank BDT & MSD Partners, she attended Saudi Arabia's FII in October 2024, a flagship event aimed at deal brokering.

* Ken Moelis, a one-time banker for Trump and the founder and chief executive of investment bank Moelis & Company, was also among those tapped to work on Saudi Aramco's first IPO. Moelis attended Saudi Arabia's Future Investment Initiative conference in October 2024.

* Steve Mnuchin, a former Goldman Sachs executive who was U.S. Treasury secretary in Trump's first administration, has been a frequent visitor to Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE since leaving office in 2021. The fund Mnuchin established, Liberty Strategic Capital, received backing from Abu Dhabi-based sovereign wealth fund Mubadala and SoftBank's Vision Fund.