Dubai: The UAE is well placed to work with President-elect Donald Trump in 2017, given the multitude of their shared interests, despite the forecasts of next year being globally turbulent for economics and politics, according to a former American Marines officer.
Dr Sterling Jensen, assistant professor at the UAE’s National Defence College in Abu Dhabi and a former civilian Foreign Area Officer for the US Marines, told delegates that he believes the new Trump administration will highly value its ongoing relationship with the UAE.
“The UAE is in a position to influence the new administration more than any other Arab country,” said Jensen, who spoke at the last session of the one-day Arab Strategy Forum on Wednesday in Dubai.
Pointing to the UAE’s strong allied commitments to fight terrorism in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan, Jensen said the UAE has shown that “we are a beacon of hope, that we are moderate and good Muslims”.
Noting that the year ahead will be all about deliberation, the Trump forecast for 2017 will rely heavily on its assessment of its vital interests in the UAE and Middle East and how will it best serve American society going forward, he said.
Jensen said that “interests determine friends and allies”.
With it 50-year oil dependency on the Middle East, the region is a central part of the American political gamut, he said.
“The US cares about the Middle East because of the positive effect on the US economy,” Jensen said.
He advised Arab leaders that in order to open up and maintain a new dialogue with the incoming presidential administration, the focus needs to be on highlighting shared interests.
“You have to make a compelling argument to the administration that it is in their vital interest,” he said.
Jensen said it is highly unlikely that Trump will renegotiate the Iran nuclear deal.
He also predicted that the new US administration will not take a hardline approach in Yemen unless provoked.
