As of May 21, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth officially accepted a luxury Boeing 747-8 jet from the State of Qatar on behalf of the United States, quickly becoming the most expensive presidential gift ever accepted. The jet, when new, is valued at 400 million dollars, and is to be used as the next Air Force One. Official Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell stated that this deal was made in accordance with all federal rules and regulations, and that “The Department of Defense will work to ensure proper security measures and functional-mission requirements are considered for an aircraft used to transport the President of the United States”.
Despite these reassurances, the move has received criticism from many members of congress and other prominent individuals, with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer saying that it was the “largest bribe from a foreign government in American history”.
Much of the controversy lies in the vital importance of the Air Force One aircraft. While the president is in the air, he is expected to be able to use Air Force One as his mobile command center, meaning that it needs to be secure from all threats, both physical and cyber. Estimates for retrofitting the jet to be in accordance with the specifications to serve as a flying command center–including secure transmissions, anti missile defenses, and medical facilities–range around 1 billion dollars. Opposing arguments include the ease at which the aircraft could be bugged for surveillance by a foreign state, with the cost of ensuring it couldn’t be astronomical. In 2018, Boeing was awarded a contract worth 3.9 billion dollars to build two new aircraft to serve as Air Force One. Though these planes were initially slated to be ready for use in 2024, project delays including lack of proper materials and workers with the right security clearance to construct the planes has pushed back the date to 2027. Additionally, the planes have gone over budget and have cost over 5 billion dollars thus far. The current Air Force One airplanes began carrying presidents in 1990.
President Donald Trump stated in an interview that “I could be a stupid person and say we don’t want that type of plane”, making the decision seem obvious. Detractors frame this as a highly strategic move by the Qatari government. President Trump’s first trip to foreign countries broke with the longstanding tradition of first visiting Canada by going to visit many of the countries in the Gulf of Arabia, including Qatar. This highlights how important President Trump sees the gulf states to his larger foreign policy vision. U.S. oil imports from Qatar have slowly been increasing over the last several decades, with 2022 imports marking a new all time high at over 9 millions barrels imported. In March 2025, the U.S. government paid approximately 50 million dollars to the Qatari government for oil. Some detractors see this as an obvious act of patronage, even bribery, to encourage President Trump to keep trade moving smoothly.
President Trump secured over 2 trillion dollars in deals with various gulf nations, the large majority made with Qatar. Over 1.2 trillion dollars in various deals, including defense and infrastructure, were made with Qatar. Prominent company names include Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin. A large part of Mr. Trump’s campaign platform of “Make America Great Again” include economic reforms designed to stimulate the American economy to new highs. Defense spending is a vital part of that. Despite being in office for just a short time, through the DOGE agency and other initiatives he has canceled billions of dollars in aid and other deals in an effort to concentrate wealth back in the United States. He has placed and removed large tariffs on U.S. trading partners, concerning the global community as to the future of global free trade.
Global rankings from the Freedom House organization categorize Qatar holistically as a “not free” state. It is an authoritarian state with its leader, the emir, being passed down by bloodline. Its citizens are some of the richest in the world per capita, though most of the population of Qatar are noncitizens with very little economic or political freedom. These and many other factors make an alliance between the United States and Qatar very unlikely on any grounds besides pure monetary gain and intelligence against a potentially hostile form of government.
The shift to non traditional allies is in line with other moves President Trump has made away from European and North American Allies. This is not completely unprecedented. In his first term, he became the first sitting U.S. leader to enter North Korea with Kim Jong Un, and has often talked about his good relationship with Putin, both of which are leaders that other U.S. leaders haven’t had friendly relationships with. In recent months he has shown his disapproval of the actions of multiple leaders of friendly nations in notable interactions, such as his oval office confrontation with President Zelensky of Ukraine and his meeting with South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa. He has created new arrangements with countries such as El Salvador to take certain U.S. prisoners. Likewise, he has also pulled the U.S. out of various international agreements and organizations, underscoring a step back from being the global police and focusing on the welfare of his own nation. Large trade deals, gift exchanges, and new dialogue with countries such as Qatar and El Salvador highlight the idea of doing business with any nation when beneficial to the U.S..
The Qatari and Gulf state deals, symbolized in a 400 million dollar jumbo jet, show the shift towards wealth and prestige of President Trump’s luxurious way of business. His bid to make the United States a wealthier and stronger nation is at the behest of many of the liberal leaning politicians. President Trump and his administration hopes to reshape the global order in which America’s wealth and prosperity is the priority. New alliances with countries that often sacrifice freedom in order to maximize profits are meant to boost the United States wealth, and patronage in the form of luxurious gifts show the new global status quo.