Trump gives MBS red-carpet welcome, touts F-35 deal, $1T Saudi investment
Trump is hosting Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House in a high-profile visit aimed at resetting US-Saudi ties and securing major defense, nuclear and investment deals.
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump received Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the South Lawn of the White House on Tuesday, marking the Gulf leader's return to Washington after a seven-year hiatus marked by a nadir in ties between the two sides.
Prince Mohammed's arrival marked the next step in the Trump administration's effort to deepen Riyadh's ties with Washington on strategic business and technology development.
The US intends to sell fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia that are “pretty similar” to the highly advanced F-35I Adir models provided to Israel, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday. Read more here.
The visit by the Saudi crown prince had all the showy trappings of a formal visit by a foreign head of state, complete with US Army flag bearers on horseback and an overflight by a squadron of US Air Force fighter jets, even though Prince Mohammed's father, King Salman, remains the monarch.
The Saudi leader pledged to increase the kingdom’s US investments to $1 trillion. Read more here.
The meeting would also coincide with an announcement of US defense sales to the kingdom, the official said, along with "enhanced cooperation on civil nuclear energy" for Riyadh.
When asked about the possibility of a civil nuclear energy agreement between the US and Saudi Arabia, Trump told reporters that while it could happen, “It’s not urgent.”
The US president also stopped short of announcing an anticipated bilateral defense pact between the two countries — long sought by the crown prince in response to threats by Iran — though he said that they had “pretty much” reached agreement on the prospect.
Prince Mohammed said the kingdom wants to join the Abraham Accords, which normalized relations between Israel and several Arab and Muslim-majority states, but it seeks a “clear path to a two-state solution” before doing so. The Saudi royal added that he had a “healthy discussion” with Trump on the matter.
Asked how much money the kingdom is planning on contributing to Gaza's reconstruction, Prince Mohammed said that the talks are ongoing, but "still, there's no amount" identified as of yet. Trump, however, interjected, saying that "it'll be a lot."
At the same time, the Trump administration is seeking to rehabilitate Prince Mohammed's image on the international stage after the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi.
Top among the deliverables sought by the prince during his visit is greater access to US-made artificial intelligence technology, as his kingdom seeks to diversify its economy away from dependency on petroleum exports in the coming decades.
The Trump administration greenlit a partnership between US-based chipmaker NVIDIA and a subsidiary of Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to build several “AI factories” in the kingdom in the coming years.
During his first planned state visit abroad of his second term in May, Trump visited Saudi Arabia and announced that the kingdom had pledged a total of $600 billion in future investment in the United States. The Saudi leader today affirmed that the kingdom will increase its pledge to $1 trillion "for … real investment and real opportunity." Prince Mohammed added that the deals the two nations will sign during his visit will "facilitate" that increase.
Additional Saudi investments in line with that pledge are expected out of the White House meeting on Tuesday, the senior administration official said, without offering details.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
