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By Jeff Mason, Steve Holland and Gram Slattery
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he plans to visit Saudi Arabia as early as May to sign an investment agreement in what will be the first foreign trip of his second term, with stops also planned in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
"It could be next month, maybe a little later," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
Four sources briefed on the matter said mid-May was being looked at as the timing for the trip. Trump made Saudi Arabia and Israel the initial stops on his inaugural foreign trip during his first term in 2017.
Trump, reiterating remarks he made in early March, said his trip to Saudi Arabia would be to seal an agreement to invest upwards of $1 trillion in the U.S. economy, including purchases of military equipment.
He suggested similar agreements would be signed in Qatar and the UAE.
"Tremendous jobs will be created in those two or three days," Trump said. The president did not elaborate on the specifics of the deals.
Other topics likely to be discussed include Russia's three-year-old war in Ukraine and the war in Gaza, one source said.
Saudi Arabia has played a prominent role in U.S. foreign policy, including hosting U.S. ceasefire talks with Russia and Ukraine.
"An opportunity for international travel for the president is something that is being looked at. We don’t yet have a specific plan, and we will provide that information when it is official," a White House official said ahead of Trump's remarks.
Last week, Trump vowed to add more countries to the Abraham Accords, the series of normalization agreements his administration negotiated between Israel and some Gulf countries during his first term.
Trump said more countries want to join the accords. While the White House has singled out Saudi Arabia as a possible participant in the accords, the Saudis have qualms about Israel due to the Gaza war.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Daphne Psaledakis, Steve Holland, Gram Slattery and Jonathan Landay; Editing by Susan Heavey, Colleen Jenkins, Howard Goller and Nia Williams)
