Egypt and Jordan are struggling to make themselves useful to Donald Trump
They no longer offer the promise of stability in a region that has been upended
THE FIRST time was an honour. King Abdullah of Jordan was the first Arab leader invited to meet Donald Trump at the White House in 2017. The president hailed him as a “great warrior” and promised him more aid. There was rather less bonhomie the second time around. The king sat uncomfortably on February 11th while Mr Trump talked of his plan to expel 2m Gazans to Egypt and Jordan and made a veiled threat to cut America’s roughly $1.5bn in annual aid to the kingdom.
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This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Linchpins no longer?”
Middle East & Africa
February 22nd 2025
From the February 22nd 2025 edition
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Meet Ibrahim Traoré, Burkina Faso’s retro revolutionary
Africa’s youngest leader is the face of the continent’s changing geopolitics
Israel is intent on destroying Gaza
Without pressure from America, it is hard to see anything stopping it
Trump rebuffs Netanyahu and gambles on a deal with Iran
Israel’s prime minister tied his country’s fate to Donald Trump. Now America is talking to its enemy
Turkey and Israel are becoming deadly rivals in Syria
The Middle East’s beefiest powers are playing out their regional ambitions there
America steps up bombing the Houthis but lacks a clear strategy
It will be hard to secure the Red Sea without driving the rebel group from power in Yemen
Talks over the Chagos Islands show the rising clout of Mauritius
And the influence of India, which is building facilities on another Mauritian island