Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the deputy ruler of Abu Dhabi and UAE national security advisor, met with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday. They discussed ways to enhance economic and technological cooperation between the UAE and the United States.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump stated that the discussions focused on increasing the partnership to advance both countries’ economic and technological futures. He emphasized that the UAE and the US are partners in promoting peace and security in the Middle East and beyond, although no further details regarding the technological cooperation were disclosed.

Earlier that day, Sheikh Tahnoon met with Scott Bessent, the US Treasury Secretary, to explore opportunities for collaboration in finance, artificial intelligence (AI), energy, and infrastructure. Bessent expressed a desire to build on the existing economic, investment, and national security ties during his tenure, as noted by the Treasury Department.

The meetings were part of a broader visit to Washington by several UAE leaders, including Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and CEO of the national oil company Adnoc. On Monday, Al Jaber had a meeting with US Vice President JD Vance, according to the UAE Embassy in Washington.

The embassy also announced that Sheikh Tahnoon would engage with executives from major technology firms such as Microsoft, Amazon, Palantir, Oracle, BlackRock, NVIDIA, and xAI during his two-day visit. This delegation aims to lay the groundwork for increased UAE investments in the United States, as highlighted in a social media post by the embassy.

In remarks made before a business forum on Tuesday, Vance expressed excitement about the UAE’s visit, underscoring the importance of leading in energy production to lead in artificial intelligence. He stated, “And one of the things they consistently hammer upon — it’s something that unfortunately too few of our European allies tend to get — is that if you want to lead in artificial intelligence, you have got to be leading in energy production.”

A primary goal of Sheikh Tahnoon’s meetings is to persuade the White House to ease export restrictions on advanced semiconductors, enabling the UAE to acquire more. Previously, former President Joe Biden established a three-tier system that placed the UAE, along with much of the world, in a middle grouping, which is subject to limitations on purchasing the most advanced American chips but does not impose an outright ban.

Experts, such as Mohammed Soliman from McLarty Associates and the Middle East Institute in Washington, have noted that the UAE is concerned that these restrictions could hinder its ambitions to become a global hub for data centers. Soliman suggested, “Sheikh Tahnoon may be here to propose a government-to-government AI agreement that supports the administration’s security and industrial policy objectives while steering clear of restrictive caps on the UAE.”

Sheikh Tahnoon is also the chairman of the UAE’s new AI investment vehicle, MGX, and serves as the head of Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund, ADQ.

During the meetings in Washington, the first deal announced involved a partnership in the AI sector. Abu Dhabi officials revealed a collaboration with Microsoft and the UAE’s Core42 to create a sovereign cloud capable of managing 11 million daily interactions between the government and its citizens, residents, and businesses.

Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella stated that the emirate “is leading the way” in leveraging AI to transform public services. G42, an AI developer in the UAE that partnered with Microsoft last year in a $1.5 billion deal, owns Core42. Abu Dhabi aims to digitalize 100 percent of its government services with an investment of AED13 billion (approximately US$3.54 billion).

According to state-run WAM news agency, Nadella remarked, “We are setting a standard for AI adoption in the public sector, as we help Abu Dhabi become the world’s first AI-native government.”