Following a massive “economic commitment” worth $1.2 trillion that the Trump administration signed with the Middle Eastern country of Qatar earlier this month, experts are raising a host of concerns about the country’s ties to terrorism, its troubling human rights record, and the influence it currently wields and could continue to expand over the U.S. government and American institutions.

During a four-day trip to the Middle East two weeks ago, President Trump signed several billion-dollar business deals with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The president summed up his trip during a press conference Wednesday, remarking that he “brought back $5.1 trillion.” In a fact sheet released by the White House, the Qatar agreement was stated to “generate an economic exchange worth at least $1.2 trillion” as well as “economic deals totaling more than $243.5 billion.”

But Middle East experts like Dr. A.J. Nolte, who serves as director of the Institute for Israel Studies at Regent University, are warning that there are numerous red flags that should be considered with Qatar, including their spending of “about $1 billion funding anti-Semitic and anti-Israel bias on U.S. campuses” as well as their support for terrorist organizations like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and their alignment with Turkey strongman Recep Erdogan’s regime.

Gregg Roman, who serves as executive director of the Middle East Forum, also sees a multitude of dangers in the U.S.’s increasingly close relationship with Qatar.

“It goes beyond politics and their attempt to influence the White House,” he emphasized during “Washington Watch with Tony Perkins” Wednesday. “If you look at every aspect of American life … whether it’s our K-12 public schools or private education, higher education, businesses, investment funds, sports teams, our best scientists, engineers, even school boards and state legislatures — the Qataris are trying to manipulate and buy America wholesale by putting money into efforts with this $1.2 trillion investment that they made.”

Roman went on to detail the extent of Qatar’s connections to terrorism and its support of America’s adversaries such as China and Iran.

“It’s not just Hamas,” he underscored. “They were hosting Khalid Sheikh Mohammed before 9/11, when he was planning the attacks against the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. They bribed Hezbollah. They acted as the main conduit for foreign remittances to Iran during the maximum pressure campaign of President Trump from 2018, even until today. They host the Chinese currency exchange for all Middle East oil, allowing Iranian energy to find an exit ramp to avoid U.S. sanctions. … They have to be held to account.”

Roman also highlighted how Qatar is continuing to clamp down on religious freedom by persecuting non-Muslims. “Qatar just arrested someone who was trying to make a march for religious freedom to be able to practice Christianity,” he noted. “And there was another instance of someone practicing Judaism [who was] put in jail because of the Qataris’ actions.”

Still, Roman noted that the new economic deal could serve as a way for the U.S. to keep Qatar in alignment with American interests going forward.

“Qatar seeks financial dominance over the United States in order to advance its pernicious agenda,” he observed. “And I think that it really has to be clear that, along with this amount of money they’re trying to put into the U.S. economy, which is potentially beneficial for the United States, it comes with strings attached. But the Qataris need to realize that there are U.S. mechanisms, both in government and also in the private sector, which will hold them accountable. So if they want to deploy their capital to the United States, the U.S. response should be, ‘That’s fine, but you’re going to play by our rules, not by your agenda.’”

Roman continued, “I think President Trump is aware of this. I think he sees the capital as something that could be to the U.S.’s net advantage. But I also think that, as he did in 2017, when he called them a state sponsor of terror on the … White House lawn, we might be getting to that point soon in terms of if they do one misstep, if they have one action which is against American national security interests, President Trump will come down with the hammer and allow that to be the anvil as well.”

Roman further explained that Qatar is trying to play both sides of their terrorist ties, on the one hand publicly moving away from them but also spreading venomous rhetoric. “[T]hey’ve been trying to play it quick and fast. They’ve been moving away from some of their overt sponsorship of extreme organizations, and they’ve tried to do it now behind the scenes. But at the end of the day … they’re still acting as a malign force against the United States in the region. … [T]hey’re going to pay lip service to President Trump [while] their Arab news outlets [Al Jazeera] are actually lambasting the United States or criticizing the presidency and are making extremely anti-American and anti-Semitic statements on a daily basis. This just has to be brought to the president’s attention. And I think at the point that it does, the switch will flip.”

Roman concluded by surmising that Qatar may be in over its head in thinking that they can continue their support of Islamist extremism and terror while also cozying up to the Trump administration.

“There [are] too many irons in the fire that they have, and there [are] too many opportunities for them to make a mistake,” he insisted. “And I’m just waiting for the day that all the research we’ve been doing on them — all of the cataloging of their legal influence activities — will come to a boil. And at that point, I think the president will realize that the straw that broke the camel’s back was their attempt to buy America without America getting anything in return.”