Written by Dave Platter, Global PR Director
“Of all countries in the Middle East, the UAE has the least to fear,” said Kashif Ansari in his recent commentary for Gulf Today.
He was responding to the global trade turbulence set off by President Trump’s sweeping new tariffs. Ansari, Co-Founder and Group CEO at IQI, pointed to the UAE’s strategic alignment with the U.S. as key to its resilience.
“The UAE has moved quickly to partner with the Trump administration,” he said. “The Emirati government even committed to investing $1.4 trillion into the U.S. economy over ten years and let President Trump present that investment as a major “win” in a White House announcement.
Ansari is probably right that this diplomacy helped the UAE avoid the harsher tariffs imposed on others. The U.S. imposed only a 10% customs duty on the Emirates. That is much less than on China.
“Jordan faces tariffs of 20%, Algeria 30%, Iraq 39%,” he wrote. “Even the EU faces a 20% tariff.”
But the UAE’s strategy has other legs just as successful as its diplomacy with the U.S. For example, the country has done an excellent job of diversifying its trade ties. This geographic spread protects the UAE from overexposure to any one market. The UAE isn’t betting everything on Washington, he said.
“Trade with the U.S. totaled $34.4 billion in 2024, but trade with China reached $95 billion,” Ansari said. “With India, it was $84 billion. The European Union adds another $68 billion, and Sub-Saharan Africa another $64 billion.”
Even the oil market’s volatility is less of a threat than it once was. “The Emirates have successfully diversified the economy away from petroleum,” Ansari explained. “Non-oil GDP has grown by 46% over ten years and now accounts for about three-quarters of output.”
Visible examples of that transformation are everywhere. “Look at the Burj Khalifa, Emirates Airline, Jebel Ali Port, and Dubai Mall,” said Ansari. “They are icons of the UAE’s real estate sector, global trade, and consumer spending.”
Another sign of the UAE’s momentum is its growing appeal among global elites. “In 2025, the flow of wealthy individuals moving to Dubai and Abu Dhabi is set to accelerate,” he said. “The UAE ranks year after year as a top-10 destination for international property investment, even ahead of much larger countries.”
He pointed to a long-term shift underway. “The population of residents with assets exceeding $100 million doubled over the past 10 years and will double again in the next decade.”
This influx, he added, “stimulates development, drives demand for private banking, and helps the Emirates diversify the econo my even further through investments in startups, tech, and green energy.”
Ansari’s conclusion is that the UAE has built itself into an essential node of global commerce. In the new world of tariff battles, the Middle East is not a sideshow; it is a crossroads.
