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Qatar’s prime minister has denied that his country’s offer of a $400mn jumbo jet to President Donald Trump was an attempt to buy influence, saying the US has historically accepted gifts from many nations.
“I see it as a normal thing that happens between allies,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha on Tuesday. “I don’t know why people are thinking that this is considered as bribery or . . . that Qatar wants to buy an influence with this administration.”
“This partnership . . . is a two-way relationship, it’s mutually beneficial for Qatar and for the United States,” he added.
Qatar’s jet offer came as Trump made a whirlwind tour of the Gulf last week, touting trillions of dollars’ worth of investment commitments into the US economy from his hosts Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
In addition to the proposed gift of the Boeing 747 jet, Qatar agreed to buy up to 210 aircraft from Boeing in what the American president hailed as the largest order of jets in the history of the US company.
Trump defended his plan to accept the $400mn jet as a “great gesture” after Democrats criticised the move as “corruption in plain sight”.
Sheikh Mohammed rejected suggestions that Qatar had sought to buy influence with the US administration or with other countries in the past.
“We need to overcome this stereotype of Qatar as a small Arab nation, because it’s gas-rich, it cannot find its way without buying it with money,” he said.
“Our intention is to have a very clear exchange . . . the US has a need to accelerate a temporary Air Force One, Qatar has the ability to provide this, we stepped up . . . a lot of nations have gifted the US many things. I’m not comparing that to the Statue of Liberty.”
Trump has said the Boeing 747-8 would go “directly” to his presidential library when he left office, and that he would not use it after his term ended. A replacement plane for the existing Air Force One jet is being made by Boeing but has been delayed by several years.
“I appreciate it very much,” Trump said of the Qatari offer last week. “I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer. I mean, I could be a stupid person and say ‘no, we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane’.”
Additional reporting by Chloe Cornish in Dubai
