Key Points
- Trump says an Emirati billionaire has pledged the investment
- “First phase” will be implemented in Arizona, Texas
- Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son also announces plans to invest $100 billion in the US
ISLAMABAD: United States (US) President-elect Donald Trump has announced a $20 billion foreign investment to set up new data centres across the United States, according to international media.
CNBC reported that Emirati billionaire Hussain Sajwani, a Trump associate and founder of the property development firm DAMAC Properties, is pledging “at least” that amount, Trump said at his Florida home, Mar-a-Lago.
“First phase”
The president-elect said that the “first phase” of the plan will take place in Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio, Louisiana, Michigan, Illinois, and Indiana.
Sajwani said that the Republican’s election spurred him to commit to the investment.
“It’s been amazing news for me and my family when Donald Trump was elected in November. We’ve been waiting four years to increase our investment in the United States to very large amounts of money,” he said in brief remarks at Mar-a-Lago.
In December, Softbank Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Masayoshi Son also announced plans to invest $100 billion in the US and create more than 100,000 jobs over the course of Donald Trump’s four-year term, according to CNBC.
Trump, who takes office on January 20, has sought to attract foreign firms to do business in the US by offering perks, such as expedited permits, for those that invest more than $1 billion.
DAMAC Properties is one of the top private developers in the skyscraper-studded city-state in the United Arab Emirates, according to the AP.
Trump International Golf Club
The property developer has been a Trump partner. Under Sajwani, DAMAC also built the Trump International Golf Club at a massive development in the city’s desert outskirts just before Donald Trump first entered the White House.
According to the website of the UAE Embassy in the US, bilateral trade between the UAE and the US totaled $31.4 billion in in 2023.
It said that the United States exported over $24.8 billion of goods and services to the UAE, marking a 19% increase from 2022.
