Arab bloc won't discriminate against US firms in Qatar rift

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said on July 17 that the UAE would not ask foreign companies to choose between doing business with it or Qatar.

That followed comments from UAE Ambassador to Russia Omar Ghobash to Britain's Guardian newspaper on June 28 that companies could be made to choose as part of a new round of sanctions on Qatar.

Top U.S. companies have large investments in countries on both sides of the dispute and there are big contracts to be won in wealthy Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar.

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, signed business deals worth tens of billions of dollars with U.S. companies during U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to Riyadh in May.

State-owned airlines in the UAE and Qatar are leading customers of U.S. planemaker Boeing, and Doha, which will host the 2022 World Cup, is seeking partners to take part in a huge expansion of its gas production.

Some companies have taken steps to restructure their Middle East operations so that Qatar no longer reports to their regional headquarters, often located in Dubai, in a bid to avoid any conflict.

One of the sources said that there have been no known incidents of a U.S. company being discriminated against by the four Arab countries because of the dispute with Qatar.