Saudis invest big in US weapons, AI as Trump basks in welcome

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday promised billions of dollars in deals with the United States from defence to artificial intelligence as it threw a lavish welcome for President Donald Trump on the first state visit of his second term.

Trump returned the favour by lavishing praise on the kingdom's crown prince and moving on a key Saudi policy request by announcing a lifting of sanctions on Syria.

The Saudis escorted Air Force One into the kingdom with fighter jets before bringing out long-stretching guards of honour and sending flag-waving cavalry to accompany Trump's motorcade to the palace.

Under imposing chandeliers, Trump welcomed a promise by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who effectively rules the kingdom due to King Salman's frail health, for $600 billion in investment and quipped that it should be $1 trillion.

"We have the biggest business leaders in the world here today and they're going to walk away with a lot of cheques," Trump told the prince.

For "the United States, it's probably two million jobs that we're talking about," Trump said.

The White House said that Saudi Arabia would buy nearly $142 billion in weapons in what it described as the largest-ever weapons deal, although Trump in his first term trumpeted a larger, longer-term figure.

The White House said that Saudi company DataVolt will invest $20 billion in artificial intelligence-related sites in the United States, while tech firms including Google will invest in both countries -- welcome news for Saudi Arabia which has faced restrictions on US advanced technology.

The US leader will also visit Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, fellow oil-rich Arab monarchies with long-standing ties to the United States -- and to Trump.

In choosing Saudi Arabia for his first state visit, as he did in his previous term, the 78-year-old billionaire was again bypassing traditional presidential stops among Western allies, some of which have been unnerved by his norms-shattering diplomacy.

- Saudis seek image change -

Trump's embrace of the Saudis contrasts with a more hesitant initial approach by former president Joe Biden, who had vowed to punish the crown prince after US intelligence found that he ordered the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.

Since Khashoggi's gruesome killing, the crown prince has worked aggressively to change Saudi Arabia's image, from easing restrictions on women to diversifying from oil to new areas such as artificial intelligence.

"Saudi Arabia has proved the critics totally wrong," Trump said at an investment forum as the crown prince, at his constant side throughout the day, beamed.

Complimenting the gleaming skyscrapers in the desert capital, Trump said: "The transformation that has occurred under the leadership of King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed has been truly extraordinary."

"I've never seen anything at that scale happen before," he said.

Trump announced, in response to appeals from the crown prince and Turkey but breaking with ally Israel, that he would ease US sanctions on Syria, ruled by Islamists since the toppling of the iron-fisted Bashar al-Assad in December.

An ultimate prize, pushed both by Trump and Biden, has been to persuade Saudi Arabia, home of Islam's holiest sites, to take the landmark step of recognising Israel.

Trump called normalisation with Israel "my fervent hope and wish, and even my dream".

"You'll do it in your own time, and that's what I want, that's what you want," he said.

Saudi Arabia has said it cannot follow the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco, which all normalised relations with Israel during Trump's first term, without the establishment of a Palestinian state.

As Trump was in the region, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that the army would enter Gaza again "with full force" against Hamas militants, more than two months after Israel cut off all food and other supplies.

The United States, which has quietly been frustrated with Israel, negotiated directly with Hamas to secure the release of a hostage with US citizenship, Edan Alexander, to whom Trump spoke by telephone Tuesday.

- Lavish plane -

Trump heads on Wednesday to Qatar, which has offered a luxury Boeing aircraft for Trump to refurbish as Air Force One and then keep after he leaves the White House.

Trump's Democratic rivals have called the gift blatant corruption. Trump has hit back that the deal was "very public and transparent".

Jon Alterman, senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that for Trump, the Gulf "is his happy place".

The leaders will "flatter him and not criticise him. And they'll treat his family members as past and future business partners," he said.