(Riyadh) Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday promised US President Donald Trump to inject $600 billion into trade and investment in the United States.
Posted at 10:21 a.m.
During his first term, Mr. Trump enjoyed warm relations with the wealthy Gulf monarchy and is now expected to push it to normalize relations with Israel.
Prince Mohammed, de facto leader of the world’s largest crude exporter, called the new tenant of the White House to congratulate him after his inauguration, and convey to him the congratulations of his father, King Salman, the agency reported official Saudi SPA.
He informed her of “the kingdom’s intention to expand its investments and trade with the United States over the next four years, to the tune of $600 billion or more,” she added.
The agency did not specify the source of the funds, which represent more than half of Saudi GDP, or how they will be used.
In 2017, Donald Trump made his first foreign visit as president to Riyadh.
“I did it with Saudi Arabia last time because they agreed to buy $450 billion worth of our products,” he said this week. He added, in a joking tone, to be ready to return if the country buys “450 or 500 (billion dollars) more”, to take into account “inflation”.
The Republican president negotiated the Abraham Accords in 2020, which saw Israel normalize relations with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco. Analysts expect his new administration to seek a similar deal with Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s holiest sites and the Arab world’s largest economy.
-His predecessor, Joe Biden, had started talks with Riyadh on an agreement providing for recognition of Israel in exchange for a defense pact with Washington and aid for a civilian nuclear program.
But the monarchy suspended discussions after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and conditioned such recognition on the creation of a Palestinian state.
“Economic partnership”
Mohammed bin Salman also met on Thursday with the new US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio. They discussed Syria, Lebanon, the Gaza Strip and the “threats represented by Iran and its proxies,” according to a statement from the spokesperson for the US State Department.
“They also discussed the benefits of the economic partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia and the possibilities of growing their economies in a variety of sectors such as AI (artificial intelligence, Editor’s note),” according to the same source.
After taking office in 2017, Donald Trump quickly moved closer to Saudi Arabia, an important partner of Washington in terms of energy and security.
But relations between the two countries subsequently cooled, with the crown prince criticizing Mr Trump for not responding more aggressively to an attack on his territory in 2019 blamed on Iran.
Riyadh and Mr. Trump’s team, however, continued to strengthen their ties after his departure from the White House, particularly in terms of investment and construction through his conglomerate, the Trump Organization.
A company owned by Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law, is also said to have received two billion dollars from Saudi investors.
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