Saudi Arabia intends to invest $600 billion in U.S., crown prince says during call with Trump
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DUBAI — Saudi Arabia’s crown prince said Thursday that the kingdom wants to invest $600 billion in the United States over the next four years, comments that came after President Trump earlier put a price tag on returning to the kingdom as his first foreign trip.
Trump’s 2017 trip to Saudi Arabia upended a tradition of U.S. presidents traveling to the United Kingdom as their first trip abroad. It also underscored his administration’s close ties to the rulers of the oil-rich Gulf states as his eponymous real estate company has pursued deals across the region as well.
The comments from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, reported early Thursday by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, came in a phone call with Trump. It marked Trump’s first call with a foreign leader since his inauguration Monday.
“The crown prince affirmed the kingdom’s intention to broaden its investments and trade with the United States over the next four years, in the amount of $600 billion, and potentially beyond that,” the report said.
The readout did not elaborate on where those investments and trade would be placed. The U.S. in recent years has increasingly pulled away from relying on Saudi oil exports, the bedrock of their relationship for decades. Saudi sovereign wealth funds have taken large stakes in American businesses while also looking at sports.
President Trump made it clear on Tuesday that he did not intend to punish Saudi Arabia or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the slaying of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an American resident killed by Saudi officials in Turkey in October.
Saudi Arabia does, however, rely predominantly on U.S.-made weapons and defense systems, which could be a part of the investment.
The White House on Thursday issued a statement acknowledging the call, saying the two leaders “discussed efforts to bring stability to the Middle East, bolster regional security and combat terrorism.”
“Additionally, they discussed the kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s international economic ambitions over the next four years as well as trade and other opportunities to increase the mutual prosperity of the United State and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the statement said, without elaborating.
The crown prince, the de facto ruler of the oil-rich kingdom, also spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio early Thursday.
On Monday after his inauguration, Trump talked about possibly heading to the kingdom again as his first foreign trip, as he did in 2017.
“The first foreign trip typically has been with the U.K. but ... I did it with Saudi Arabia last time because they agreed to buy $450 billion worth of our products,” Trump told journalists in the Oval Office. “If Saudi Arabia wanted to buy another $450 billion or $500 [billion] — we’ll up it for all the inflation — I think I’d probably go.”
Trump offered no breakdown on the sales, though in 2018 in the White House, he famously showed Prince Mohammed a poster declaring $12.5 billion in “finalized sales” to the kingdom of military weaponry.
The Senate voted Thursday to block the Trump administration from selling arms to Saudi Arabia, launching a new challenge to President Trump’s alliance with the country amid rising tensions in the Middle East.
“That’s peanuts for you,” Trump told the smiling prince, who chuckled.
On a potential trip to Saudi Arabia in Trump’s new term, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told journalists Thursday: “I’m not aware of any plans at this time.”
Trump’s 2017 visit to the kingdom set in motion a years-long boycott of Qatar by four Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia, over ties to Iran.
Trump maintained close relations with Saudi Arabia, even after Prince Mohammed was implicated in the 2018 killing and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul. The kingdom also had been talking for years with the Biden administration about a wider deal to diplomatically recognize Israel in exchange for U.S. defense protections and other support.
The $600-billion pledge, which dwarves the gross domestic product of many nations, also comes as the kingdom faces budgetary pressures of its own. Global oil prices remain depressed years after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting the kingdom’s revenues.
Meanwhile, Prince Mohammed also wants to continue his $500-billion project at NEOM, a new city in Saudi Arabia’s western desert on the Red Sea. It also will need to build tens of billions of dollars’ worth of new stadiums and infrastructure ahead of hosting the 2034 FIFA World Cup.
Gambrell writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Michelle Price in Washington contributed to this report.
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