As he prepares to return to the White House on January 20, president-elect Donald Trump has been making cabinet and staff nominations. His choices have so far included four Arab Americans.
Massad Boulos
Mr Trump has nominated Mr Boulos, a Lebanese-American businessman, as his senior adviser on Arab and Middle East affairs. His son, Michael, is married to Mr Trump's daughter, Tiffany.
Mr Boulos was instrumental in rallying support among Arab and Muslim Americans for Mr Trump during the election campaign, particularly in states such as Michigan, a key swing state he won.
Mr Boulos told voters, most of whom supported Mr Biden in 2020, that Mr Trump would forge peace in the Middle East, albeit without providing concrete details. For months leading up to the election, Mr Boulos held meetings with Arab and Muslim-American community leaders, capitalising on anger with the Biden administration over its backing of Israel in its wars in Gaza and Lebanon.
He also met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
A billionaire with business ties in Nigeria, Mr Boulos was born in Lebanon to an influential Christian family, and moved to Texas as a teenager, where he studied law. He then moved on to expand his family businesses in West Africa, operating businesses in making motorcycle parts, among others.
Mr Boulos, 52, has said he has extensive ties to key political figures in Lebanon, including Suleiman Frangieh, a Christian former president who was backed by Hezbollah to be the next head of state. He has also said he maintains ties with the Lebanese Forces, an anti-Hezbollah Christian group, and connections to independent politicians.
He ran for office in Lebanon and his father and grandfather were both politically active. His father-in-law was an important financial supporter of the Free Patriotic Movement, a Christian party aligned with Hezbollah.
Alina Habba
A New Jersey lawyer of Iraqi origin, Ms Habba is set to become Mr Trump's legal counsel when he is in the White House.
She is managing partner of Habba, Madaio and Associates, and has represented Mr Trump in a series of legal challenges, including a defamation lawsuit and a fraud lawsuit in New York where he was charged with inflating the value of his assets. She has been advising him on legal matters and representing him since he left office in 2021.
Ms Habba, who was born in the US, has Iraqi ancestry and is Chaldean, the largest Christian denomination in Iraq and one of the Catholic Church’s Eastern rites. Her family left Iraq in the early 1980s to escape religious persecution. She identifies as an Arab-American Catholic and says she is “very religious”.
During Mr Trump’s presidential campaign, Ms Habba was often featured on conservative news media outlets. She also spoke at the Republican National Convention and accompanied Mr Trump on the campaign trail. She was also a speaker at the Madison Square Garden rally in October.
Janette Nesheiwat
Late last month, Mr Trump nominated Dr Nesheiwat to serve as the Surgeon General, “the nation’s doctor".
Born in New York City to Jordanian-Christian parents, Dr Nesheiwat worked as an urgent care doctor and later became a medical director at CityMD, a chain of clinics that operate in New York and in New Jersey. During the pandemic, she regularly appeared on Fox News as a medical contributor.
She also has family ties to the Trump administration. Her sister, Julia Nesheiwat, was a homeland security adviser in the first Trump administration. She is also married to Florida Representative Mike Waltz, who has been nominated as national security adviser.
Dr Nesheiwat, 47, is one of five siblings who was raised by a widowed mother after their father was killed in a “freak accident”. Dr Nesheiwat accidentally knocked over a handgun in the house, causing it to discharge and hit her father in the head. That experience reportedly motivated her to become a physician.
Tom Barrack
A prominent businessman, Mr Barrack is a billionaire and a long-time friend of the president-elect. Mr Trump nominated him as the next US ambassador to Turkey.
The grandson of Lebanese-Christian immigrants, Mr Barrack founded the private equity firm Colony Capital. He was the chair of Mr Trump's first inaugural committee in 2017, and two years ago he was acquitted of federal charges accusing him of unlawfully lobbying.
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
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Infiniti QX80 specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged 3.5-liter V6
Power: 450hp
Torque: 700Nm
Price: From Dh450,000, Autograph model from Dh510,000
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Notable cricketers and political careers
- India: Kirti Azad, Navjot Sidhu and Gautam Gambhir (rumoured)
- Pakistan: Imran Khan and Shahid Afridi (rumoured)
- Sri Lanka: Arjuna Ranatunga, Sanath Jayasuriya, Tillakaratne Dilshan (rumoured)
- Bangladesh (Mashrafe Mortaza)
On Instagram: @WithHopeUAE
Although social media can be harmful to our mental health, paradoxically, one of the antidotes comes with the many social-media accounts devoted to normalising mental-health struggles. With Hope UAE is one of them.
The group, which has about 3,600 followers, was started three years ago by five Emirati women to address the stigma surrounding the subject. Via Instagram, the group recently began featuring personal accounts by Emiratis. The posts are written under the hashtag #mymindmatters, along with a black-and-white photo of the subject holding the group’s signature red balloon.
“Depression is ugly,” says one of the users, Amani. “It paints everything around me and everything in me.”
Saaed, meanwhile, faces the daunting task of caring for four family members with psychological disorders. “I’ve had no support and no resources here to help me,” he says. “It has been, and still is, a one-man battle against the demons of fractured minds.”
In addition to With Hope UAE’s frank social-media presence, the group holds talks and workshops in Dubai. “Change takes time,” Reem Al Ali, vice chairman and a founding member of With Hope UAE, told The National earlier this year. “It won’t happen overnight, and it will take persistent and passionate people to bring about this change.”
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