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White House says framework increases UAE investments in US

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UAE looking to diversify economy from oil revenue

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Investment in aluminum smelter was new pledge

(Changes sourcing in first paragraph, adds throughout of new

deals announced and items that have previously been made public)

By Steve Holland and Federico Maccioni

WASHINGTON/DUBAI, March 21 (Reuters) - The United Arab

Emirates has committed to a 10-year, $1.4 trillion investment

framework in the United States after top UAE officials met

President Donald Trump this week, the White House said on

Friday.

The framework will "substantially increase the UAE's

existing investments in the U.S. economy" in AI infrastructure,

semiconductors, energy, and manufacturing, the White House said

in a statement.

The White House did not outline how UAE investments would

reach $1.4 trillion, with some of the deals unveiled as part of

the framework having already been announced.

The only fully new deal appeared to be an investment by

Emirates Global Aluminium in what would be the first new

aluminum smelter in the United States in 35 years, the White

House said, adding the plant "would nearly double U.S. domestic

aluminum production".

"Developing a primary aluminium smelter in the U.S. has been

part of EGA's ambitions for several years," a spokesperson for

the firm said in a statement.

The UAE, an oil producer and longtime security partner of

the U.S., is looking to deepen investment ties with Washington

and is emerging as a global leader in AI, one of the sectors it

is betting on to diversify its economy away from energy.

In September, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al

Nahyan met former U.S. President Joe Biden, in the first visit

of a UAE president to the White House, as the two leaders

discussed deepening cooperation in areas such as AI, investments

and space exploration.

Gulf sovereign wealth funds, including Abu Dhabi's

$330-billion Mubadala, are already big U.S. investors, and Trump

and his family have business ties to the region.

OVAL OFFICE MEETING

Trump in January asked Saudi Arabia to spend upwards of $1

trillion in the U.S. economy, over four years, including

purchases of military equipment, and said this month he likely

would make his first trip abroad to the Gulf country to seal an

investment agreement.

The deal, which could happen between this month or the next,

would come at a time when Saudi Arabia, the Arab world's biggest

economy, has been taking a more prominent role in U.S. foreign

policy. The Gulf country is set to host diplomatic talks around

Ukraine involving the United States and Russia next week.

The White House said on Friday the UAE agreement resulted

from a meeting that Trump held on Tuesday with national security

adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan in the Oval Office

and a dinner that Vice President JD Vance and several cabinet

members held with the UAE delegation, which included the heads

of major UAE sovereign wealth funds and corporations.

Among the tie-ups highlighted on Friday was a partnership

between UAE sovereign wealth fund ADQ, which is chaired by

Sheikh Tahnoon, and U.S. private equity firm Energy Capital

Partners, for a $25 billion U.S.-focused initiative to invest in

energy infrastructure and data centers. That had been previously

announced two days ago.

A commitment by XRG, the international investment arm of UAE

state oil company ADNOC launched in November, to support U.S.

natural gas production and exports with an investment in the

NextDecade ( NEXT ) liquefied natural gas export facility in Texas, had

previously been made public last year by ADNOC, under Biden.