Elections weigh on US-Gulf economic relations

Oil exports to the United States made the fortunes of Arab Gulf states for decades, but times are changing, and nowadays most tankers sail eastward to supply Asian markets. Saudi oil exports to the United States more than halved between 2014 and 2019. Yet the Gulf region continues to benefit significantly from the strength of the American economy. 

The Gulf’s sovereign wealth funds have historically been heavy investors in the US market “in all facets,” said Michael Maduell, president of the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, listing large investments in bonds, public equities, fixed income, real estate, infrastructure and private equity funds. “They are very active,” he told Al-Monitor.