Al Nahyan regards the United States as his chief ally and has a strong relationship with United States diplomats including US former Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis and US former national security advisor and counter-terrorism expert Richard A. Clarke. As unpaid advisers, Al Nahyan consults them and follows their advice on combating terrorism and enhancing the UAE's military strength and intelligence. During the Obama administration, Al Nahyan had an initially good relationship with the administration but the relationship deteriorated when Obama had not bothered to consult or even inform the UAE about the Iran nuclear deal. The UAE had a lot at stake, having forced Dubai traders to give up their lucrative business with Iran to comply with the sanctions. According to an Emirati senior adviser “His Highness felt that the U.A.E. had made sacrifices and then been excluded”. Al Nahyan continued talking to Obama regularly and offered him advice. He warned him that the proposed remedy in Syria — Islamist rebels — could be worse than Assad's tyranny. He also urged Obama to talk to the Russians about working together on Syria. The relationship deteriorated further when Obama made dismissive comments in a 2016 interview in The Atlantic, describing the gulf's rulers as “free riders” who “do not have the ability to put out the flames on their own”. After the election of Donald Trump, Al Nahyan flew to New York to meet the president-elect's team and canceled a parting lunch with Obama.