U.S. firms won't be discriminated by Arab bloc in Qatar rift

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According to sources with knowledge of the letter, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, in which they persuaded him that American companies would not be discriminated against as part of the boycott.

The European Union has been given the similar information by the UAE, the EU Delegation to the UAE told Reuters.

In the letter to Tillerson, the four countries said that they valued and intended to maintain their relationships with U.S. companies and that those ties would not be affected by the boycott, according to a source who has seen the letter. The U.S. Embassy in Abu Dhabi declined to comment on the letter.

In July, Tillerson made a four-day visit to the region, where he met both sides of the dispute and made proposals to help end the crisis.

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.

As 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.