Trump Receives Warm Welcome From Saudi Crown Prince

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump signed a bunch of financial and bilateral cooperation agreements in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday as he kicked off a four-day Middle East trip with a give attention to dealmaking with a key Mideast ally whereas shared considerations about Iran’s nuclear program and the battle in Gaza dragged on within the background.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi de facto ruler, warmly greeted Trump as he stepped off Air Pressure One at King Khalid Worldwide Airport within the Saudi capital. The 2 leaders then retreated to a grand corridor on the Riyadh airport, the place Trump and his aides have been served conventional Arabic espresso by ready attendants carrying ceremonial gun belts.

“I actually consider we like one another so much,” Trump stated later throughout a short look with the crown prince at the beginning of a bilateral assembly.

They later signed greater than a dozen agreements to extend cooperation between their governments’ militaries, justice departments and cultural establishments. Extra financial agreements have been anticipated to be inked later Tuesday at a U.S.-Saudi funding convention convened for the event.

Prince Mohammed has already dedicated to some $600 billion in new Saudi funding within the U.S., however Trump teased $1 trillion could be even higher.

The pomp started earlier than Trump even landed. Royal Saudi Air Pressure F-15s supplied an honorary escort for Air Pressure One because it approached the dominion’s capital — an exceptionally uncommon sight.

Trump and Prince Mohammed additionally took half in a proper greeting and lunch on the Royal Court docket at Al Yamamah Palace, gathering with company and aides in an ornate room with blue and gold accents and big crystal chandeliers.

As he greeted enterprise titans with Trump by his facet, Prince Mohammed was animated and smiling.

It was a stark distinction to his awkward fist bump with then-President Joe Biden, who regarded to keep away from being seen on digital camera shaking palms with the prince throughout a 2022 go to to the dominion.

Biden had determined to pay a go to to Saudi Arabia as he regarded to alleviate hovering costs on the pump for motorists at dwelling and across the globe. On the time, Prince Mohammed’s repute had been badly broken by a U.S. intelligence willpower that discovered he had ordered the 2018 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

However that darkish second gave the impression to be distant reminiscence for the prince as he rubbed elbows with high-profile enterprise executives — together with Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink and Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk — in entrance of the cameras and with Trump by his facet.

Later, the crown prince will fete Trump with an intimate state dinner at Advert-Diriyah, a UNESCO heritage web site that’s the birthplace of the primary Saudi state and the positioning of a serious growth venture championed by the crown prince.

Saudi Arabia and fellow OPEC+ nations have already helped their trigger with Trump early in his second time period by stepping up oil manufacturing. Trump sees low cost vitality as a key part to decreasing prices and stemming inflation for People. The Republican president has additionally made the case that decrease oil costs will hasten an finish to the Russia-Ukraine battle.

However Saudi Arabia’s economic system stays closely depending on oil, and the dominion wants a fiscal break-even oil value of $96 to $98 a barrel to steadiness its finances. It’s questionable how lengthy OPEC+, of which Saudi Arabia is the main member, is prepared to maintain manufacturing elevated. The worth of a barrel of Brent crude closed Monday at $64.77.

Trump picked the dominion for his first cease, as a result of it has pledged to make big investments within the U.S., however he ended up traveling to Italy final month for Pope Francis’ funeral. Riyadh was the first overseas stop of his first term.

The three nations on Trump’s itinerary — Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates — are locations the place the Trump Group, run by Trump’s two oldest sons, is growing main actual property initiatives. They embrace a high-rise tower in Jeddah, a luxurious lodge in Dubai and a golf course and villa advanced in Qatar.

Trump is attempting to reveal that his transactional technique for worldwide politics is paying dividends as he faces criticism from Democrats who say his global tariff war and strategy to Russia’s battle on Ukraine are isolating the U.S. from allies.

He’s anticipated to announce offers with the three rich nations that may contact on synthetic intelligence, increasing vitality cooperation and maybe new arms gross sales to Saudi Arabia. The administration this month introduced preliminary approval to promote $3.5 billion worth of air-to-air missiles for Saudi Arabia’s fighter jets.

However Trump arrived within the Center East when his high regional allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia, are removed from neatly aligned together with his strategy.

Earlier than the journey, Trump introduced Washington was halting an almost two-month U.S. airstrike marketing campaign towards Yemen’s Houthis, saying the Iran-backed rebels have pledged to cease attacking ships alongside a significant world commerce route.

The administration didn’t notify Israel — which the Houthis proceed to focus on — of the settlement earlier than Trump publicly introduced it. It was the most recent instance of Trump leaving the Israelis at the hours of darkness about his administration’s negotiations with widespread adversaries.

In March, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasn’t notified by the administration till after talks started with Hamas in regards to the battle in Gaza. And Netanyahu came upon in regards to the ongoing U.S. nuclear talks with Iran solely when Trump introduced them throughout an Oval Workplace go to by the Israeli chief final month.

“Israel will defend itself by itself,” Netanyahu stated final week following Trump’s Houthi truce announcement. “If others be part of us — our American mates — all the higher.”

William Wechsler, senior director of the Rafik Hariri Heart and Center East Packages on the Atlantic Council, stated Trump’s resolution to skip Israel on his first Center East go to is exceptional.

“The principle message popping out of this, not less than because the itinerary stands immediately, is that the governments of the Gulf … are the truth is stronger mates to President Trump than the present authorities of Israel at this second,” Wechsler stated.

Trump, in the meantime, hopes to restart his first-term effort to normalize relations between the Center East’s main powers, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Trump’s Abraham Accords effort led to Sudan, the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco agreeing to normalize relations with Israel.

However Riyadh has made clear that in alternate for normalization it desires U.S. safety ensures, help with the dominion’s nuclear program and progress on a pathway to Palestinian statehood. There appears to be scant hope for making headway on a Palestinian state with the Israel-Hamas battle raging and the Israelis threatening to flatten and occupy Gaza.

Prince Mohammed final week notably hosted Palestinian Vice President Hussein al-Sheikh in Jeddah on the official’s first overseas go to since assuming workplace in April.

This story has been corrected to point out the Palestinian vice chairman’s identify is al-Sheikh, not Sheikh, and he’s an official, not a sheikh.

Madhani reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.