Trump held a meeting in the Oval Office with Bahrain's crown prince and was set to have dinner with Qatar's prime minister

The Republican president has lavished attention on the Gulf, a wealthy region where members of his family have extensive business relationships. He has already visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on the first foreign policy trip of his second term

With little progress to share on the region's most intractable problems, including the war in Gaza, Trump was more focused Wednesday on promoting diplomatic ties as a vehicle for economic growth

"Anything they needed, we helped them," Trump said in the Oval Office while meeting with Bahrain Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. "And anything we needed, they helped us"

Bahrain is a longtime ally that hosts the US Fifth Fleet, which operates in the Middle East

Like other Arab leaders, Al Khalifa was eager to highlight the lucrative potential of diplomatic ties with the US, including USD 17 billion of investments

According to the White House, the agreements include purchasing American airplanes, jet engines and computer servers. More investments could be made in aluminum production and artificial intelligence