Donald Trump began his first official foreign trip in Saudi Arabia

US President Donald Trump met with the kingdom's current leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in the Saudi capital Riyadh. He plans to visit two more Middle Eastern countries in the coming days - Qatar and the UAE. This is his first official foreign visit since the start of his new presidency.

Photos from Trump and bin Salman's first meeting show them sitting together next to portraits of members of the Saudi royal family at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also attending the meeting.

Donald Trump plans to spend part of today and tomorrow in Riyadh. After meeting with bin Salman, the US president plans to attend the Saudi-American Investment Forum, which will also be attended by the heads of Citigroup, IBM, Qualcomm, Alphabet and Franklin Templeton. Later, he will attend a summit of Gulf leaders.

After the summit on Wednesday, the US president is scheduled to leave for Qatar. He will end his Middle East tour on Friday by visiting the United Arab Emirates.

On Monday, Trump said he would not rule out a trip to Istanbul, where Russian-Ukrainian peace talks are expected to take place on Thursday, May 15.

The initiative for such a meeting was put forward by Russia, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he would personally travel to Turkey and meet Russian President Vladimir Putin there. The Kremlin has not ruled out Putin's participation, but it is not yet clear whether such talks will take place or in what format they might be held.

Trump is accompanied by US President Donald Trump's special representative for the Middle East, Steve Whittock, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

According to BBC correspondents, the main goal of Trump's trip to the Middle East is to attract additional investment to the United States.

This will help Trump show his voters that his "America First" ideology is producing tangible results.

The US president's visit comes against the backdrop of a trade war that Trump has declared against countries around the world. The import tariffs imposed by the White House have significantly disrupted global trade and have had a negative impact on the US economy itself.

Trump's trip to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE was his first official foreign trip since the start of his new presidency.

In late April, Trump visited Italy for the funeral of Pope Francis, but this trip was not planned in advance.

Saudi Arabia was the first country Trump visited during his previous presidency.

Previously, it had become a tradition for US presidents to first visit key allies such as Canada or Mexico.

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