Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told President Trump on Wednesday that the kingdom intends to increase investment and trade with the United States by at least $600 billion over the next four years. According to Saudi official news agency.
The crown prince, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, told Trump that the new administration has the ability to create “unprecedented economic prosperity” for the United States and that Saudi Arabia wants to join, according to a statement from the Saudi Press Agency. said. Said.
The White House said in a news release that the call was the first between Trump and a foreign leader, and the two discussed the Middle East as well as Saudi Arabia’s “global economic ambitions” and ways to “advance mutual prosperity” for the two countries. said. Two countries.
Mr. Trump promised to accelerate investment in the United States, especially to help revive manufacturing. During his campaign last year, he said he would use a combination of tax cuts and tariffs to force companies to invest in the United States.
On Tuesday, Trump announced Stargate, a joint venture between OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle that aims to build at least $100 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure. Up to $500 billion could be invested in the initiative over four years.
Trump’s first overseas trip as president in 2017 was to Saudi Arabia, reflecting the importance he placed on his relationship with the crown prince. During that period, the United States pursued major deals with Saudi Arabia, including arms sales.
Since then, Trump and his family have struck several personal business deals in the Gulf region, particularly in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The Trump Organization announced several projects in Saudi Arabia in December, and also announced the $533 million Trump Tower in Jeddah in collaboration with Dar Global, the global arm of Saudi Arabia’s Dar Al-Arkan real estate company. did. Dar al-Arkan and its subsidiary Dar Global are both private companies but have close ties to the Saudi government.
Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also secured a $2 billion investment in his private equity firm from a Saudi government fund, six months after Trump leaves the White House in 2021. did.
“One thing is for sure, both Trump and MBS are fluent in business language,” Salman al-Ansari, a geopolitical analyst from Saudi Arabia, said, using the widely used abbreviation of the crown prince’s name. ” he said.
Mr Trump told reporters In the Oval Office on Monday, the president said Saudi Arabia was his first foreign stop during his last term, as he “agreed to buy $450 billion worth of our products.”
If Saudi Arabia wants to “purchase another 450 or 500 planes,” he said, “I think we’ll probably go” on his first overseas trip in his second term.
In the spring before the election, Trump met with the crown prince. It’s unclear what the two discussed and whether this was their only conversation since Trump left office.
During the campaign, Trump said The Saudi-owned broadcaster Al Arabiya said, “We have great respect for Mr. Mohammed, who has achieved outstanding results.”
Immediately after Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi was murdered in 2018, Mr. I stood by the prince’s side.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also spoke by phone with the Saudi crown prince to discuss “the strength of the U.S.-Saudi partnership at this time of significant change,” a State Department statement said. Rubio said this in 2018, when he was a senator.no doubtThe Saudi crown prince was implicated in Khashoggi’s murder.
Another focus of the Trump administration is convincing Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords. The Abraham Accords are an agreement brokered during Trump’s first term that resulted in several Arab countries establishing formal diplomatic relations with Israel.
In a readout released by the Saudi Press Agency early Thursday, the Saudis said Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed also discussed “ways to promote peace, security and stability in the Middle East,” but the statement did not say anything. He didn’t even mention it in the discussion. Regarding the potential expansion of these agreements.
Trump also discussed these agreements in the Oval Office on Monday. “I don’t think there’s any need to force it. I’m sure it will happen, it may not have happened yet, but I think ultimately we will end up with an agreement called the Abraham Accords,” he told reporters. ” Asked when he expected the two countries to sign a new agreement, Trump said “soon.”
Last year, Prince Mohammed said the kingdom would not normalize relations with Israel unless it first secured recognition of a Palestinian state, a position that marked a change from previous statements.
