Trump and Iraq Prime Minister agree on deeper economic ties and US troop withdrawal by September 30

United States President Donald Trump and Iraqi Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi met at the White House in Washington, DC, on Tuesday and said they want to move bilateral relations toward economic cooperation. The two leaders said the talks would lead to a series of deals, with energy at the centre of the agenda. They also said the remaining US forces in Iraq would fully withdraw by September 30.

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Trump said Iraq had "tremendous potential" because of its oil and said the two countries would be "doing a lot of deals". He said the arrangement would create jobs in both countries and increase oil production. Al-Zaidi described the visit as unlike any other and said it marked the start of an "economic partnership".

He added that relations between Iraq and the United States were shifting "from militaristic to economic". The Iraqi government had previously said it expected several oil and gas agreements to be signed during the visit. Trump also publicly backed al-Zaidi for the prime minister role earlier this year, while opposing former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Al-Maliki, who has been seen as close to Iran, later dropped out of contention in April. The meeting therefore carried both economic and political weight, given Iraq's long-running balancing act between Washington and Tehran. The planned troop withdrawal is significant because the US military presence in Iraq has been tied to the campaign against Islamic State and to wider regional tensions.

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The row of competing influence in Iraqi politics has also involved Iran-aligned armed groups, which have objected to the continued US presence. Both leaders said the remaining US forces, believed to number fewer than 2,000, would leave by the end of September, while al-Zaidi said armed factions active across Iraq would disarm on the same date. Al-Zaidi has already said in his first speech to parliament as prime minister that he wants to disarm the country's varied paramilitary groups, which have held influence since the 2003 US-led war on Iraq.

He has not explained how he intends to achieve that goal. Shortly before his departure, the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed groups, said it would reject any outcome of the visit. That suggests the political and security implications of the talks may extend well beyond the White House meeting itself.

What remains unclear is how quickly any oil and gas agreements can be finalised and whether the troop withdrawal timetable will be carried out as announced. It is also not clear how Baghdad plans to manage the disarmament pledge or respond to opposition from armed factions. The coming weeks will show whether the visit produces concrete economic agreements or mainly sets out a political direction for the relationship.

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