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(Bloomberg) — The United Arab Emirates says it’s ahead of schedule with a plan to invest $1.4 trillion in the US over the next 10 years, and criticized the European Union for stalling trade talks.
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“Things are progressing very well,” Minister of Foreign Trade Thani Al Zeyoudi said in an interview this week, referring to a spending pledge made when President Donald Trump visited the UAE in May of last year. “It was ten years — I think we’re going to do it much quicker.”
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The comments signal the Gulf Arab state’s commitment to the world’s biggest economy and to investing abroad via its huge sovereign wealth funds, even after the US and Israel attacked Iran in late February and triggered a war that’s roiled the Middle East.
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The UAE had to fend off thousands of missiles and drones from the Islamic Republic at the height of the conflict. Hostilities have picked up again the past two weeks, exasperating Gulf Arab states.
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Al Zeyoudi said reaching the investment target would be helped by the Trump government’s move to ease export restrictions on the UAE. The announcement this month clears the way for Abu Dhabi to buy the most sophisticated AI chips made by American companies such as Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
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“It shows the real partnership between us and the current administration when it comes to transparency, trust and commitments regarding the supply-chain sensitivities,” the minister said in Dubai this week.
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He dismissed arguments from some national security hawks in Washington that exporting high-end semiconductors to the UAE will enable China to access such technology and slow the artificial-intelligence rollout in the US.
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“You cannot please everyone,” Al Zeyoudi said. “It’s as simple as that. We do understand the concern of those people and the concern of the government itself. But we’re fulfilling all the requirements.”
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The UAE will start importing such chips for its firms “very soon,” he said, adding they’ll be needed for a project known as Stargate, a data center cluster in Abu Dhabi emirate that’s meant to host the likes of OpenAI.
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He contrasted Washington’s openness to trade and business with the EU’s stance. The bloc has had roughly seven rounds of talks with the UAE about a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement without a deal being struck. In the past few years, the UAE has signed almost 40 CEPAs, similar to free-trade deals, with countries across the world.
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“It’s not moving at the same pace as with others,” the minister said of negotiations with Brussels. “It’s because they’re still insisting on bringing to the table non-trade matters, which will not work with us.”
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The EU has been criticized by many governments, the US included, for bringing ESG and labor standards to the table during trade talks.
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