US President Donald Trump continued his blitz of Gulf deals in Qatar on Wednesday, telling the American jet maker Boeing to “get those planes out there” after unveiling what he said was the American company’s biggest deal in history.

Trump said Qatar had agreed to order up to 210 American-made Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 777x aircraft in a $96bn deal.

“Congratulations to Boeing. Get those planes out there,” Trump said at a ceremony alongside Qatar’s ruler, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.

“I just want to thank you,” he added.

The Qatari purchase throws a lifeline to Boeing. The iconic US aeroplane maker has been hammered by crisis after crisis. Most recently, in 2024, a Boeing jet lost a rear door in mid-flight. A Boeing jet owned by a Korean airline also crashed the same year. The accidents and concerns about quality control at Boeing’s factories have battered the company’s share price.

Trump’s visit to Qatar marks the second leg in his three-state tour of the Arabian Gulf.

Trump seals deals and slams western ‘interventionists’ in Saudi Arabia visit

The White House said on Wednesday that Trump had secured $1.2 trillion in “economic commitments” from Qatar, but qualified the announcement, saying the deals totalled more than $240bn, including the Boeing order.

Aviation industry experts say that Qatar Airways is likely to negotiate a lower price per plane than is listed, given the sheer size of the order.

Still, for Trump, the visit will mark a continuation of what he will look back on as a successful Arabian Gulf tour. Trump was vetted by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, who personally drove the US president around in a Golf cart.

Qatar’s ruling family also welcomed Trump in the glitzy style he prefers, with cavalry soldiers riding beside his Limousine.

“We appreciate those camels, I haven’t seen camels like that in a long time,” Trump told Thani.

More deals

In Saudi Arabia, Trump’s administration announced $600bn worth of deals, including $142bn in arms sales. Although many of the deals have been announced in the form of non-binding commitments, many are also likely to materialise.

The shares of US chipmakers like Nvidia and AMD were soaring on Wednesday, thanks to a combination of deals announced with entities belonging to Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund and a decision by Trump to undo Biden-era export controls that prevented Gulf states from buying advanced AI chips.

The deals announced in Qatar skewed more towards aviation, defence and energy. Trump agreed to the $1bn sale of Raytheon’s small unmanned aircraft integrated defeat system. General Atomics also secured a nearly $2bn agreement for Qatar’s acquisition of the MQ-9B drones.

Qatar is home to the world’s largest natural gas field. Its status as a key supplier of liquefied natural gas soared after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The former Biden administration tried to put green energy at the forefront of its economic initiatives. Under Trump, the US has embraced traditional oil and gas investments.

The White House noted that the partnership between US energy construction company McDermott and Qatar Energy was worth $8.5bn.

“As the sole provider of offshore components for Qatar’s major LNG expansion, McDermott’s work directly supports thousands of US energy sector jobs,” the statement said.

In 2022, Qatar Airways signed a massive order with Boeing for a new freighter version of its 777x passenger jet and a provisional order for 737 Max jets.

Trump courted controversy ahead of his visit to the Gulf by saying he planned to accept a 747 Boeing Jet from Qatar for use as Air Force One and that he would keep the jet after he left the White House, placing it in his presidential library.