US Foreign Policy and the Gulf States: Changing Dynamics in a Multipolar World

This article focuses on US foreign policy toward the Gulf from Obama's Pivot to Asia to the initial period of the second Trump administration. It situates the role of the US within the broader context of the global energy transition and the Gulf states as geopolitical actors in a multipolar world order. Drawing on concepts of international order, balance of power, and hegemonic interests, the analysis is contextualized by transformational and disruptive factors such as the Iraq War 2003, the JCPOA, the Arab Spring, shifts in energy markets, and the changing US strategy between administrations. The article also examines the US position in contrast to China's latticework model of engagement and explores how Gulf states have developed new strategies that leverage their position as swing states. This article challenges the view that the Gulf's states are passive actors in great power competition and constitute a consequential geopolitical region with agency in the international system.