During a teleconference on Thursday, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman congratulated Donald Trump on his return to the White House and said that the kingdom will greatly increase its trade and investment with the US.
During the call with Trump, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia conveyed his father, King Salman,’s greetings, the foreign ministry said.
The kingdom will “expand its investment and trade with the United States to $600 billion over four years, and potentially beyond that,” the crown prince continued.
“The threats posed by Iran and its proxies” were among the topics that incoming US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed with the crown prince during his own conversation on Thursday.
“They also discussed the benefits of the U.S.-Saudi economic partnership and the opportunities to grow their economies in a variety of fields including AI,” stated a representative for Senator Rubio.
Trump aggressively pursued Saudi Arabia during his first term in office, which has long been a significant oil and security ally of Washington.
In 2017, he made his first foreign trip to the Saudi capital of Riyadh, where he was greeted with a lavish show that included a sword dance and an air force jet fly-past.
Prince Mohammed later criticized Trump for not acting more forcefully after a 2019 attack that was generally attributed to Iran cut the Gulf kingdom’s petroleum production in half.
Even still, Riyadh and Trump’s staff worked to strengthen their relationship after he left the White House, especially through development agreements and investments for his privately held company, the Trump Organization.
Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, has also justified the $2 billion Saudi investment in his private equity business.
During his campaign, Joe Biden blasted Saudi Arabia for violating human rights, such as the 2018 murder of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi.
The two sides sought to negotiate a so-called mega-deal, in which Saudi Arabia would recognize Israel in exchange for a defense treaty with the United States and assistance on a civilian nuclear program, after their relationship with then-President Biden’s administration significantly improved.
After Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, sparking a war in the Gaza Strip, that agreement was placed on hold.
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