President Donald J. Trump’s trip to the Middle East on May 13-16 comes on the heels of more than three months of whirlwind activity in US foreign policy where the region has been a higher priority than it was in the early months of the previous US administration.

Trump is again diverging from U.S. presidential habit by choosing the Middle East, not Canada or Mexico, for the first foreign trip of his second term. He's hoping to do deals with three of the region's wealthiest countries.