DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Saudi Arabia’s crown prince said Thursday that the kingdom needs to invest $600 billion in the United States over the next four years, comments that came after President Trump set a price for his return to the kingdom. for the first time abroad.
Mr. Trump’s 2017 trip to Saudi Arabia upended a tradition of U.S. presidents first heading 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.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s comments, reported Thursday morning by the Saudi Press Agency, emerged from a phone call with Trump.
“The crown prince affirmed the kingdom’s goal of expanding its investments and industry with the United States over the next four years, reaching $600 billion and more,” the report said.
The readout didn’t elaborate on where those investments and trade could be placed. The U.S. in recent years has increasingly pulled away from relying on Saudi oil exports, which were the bedrock of their relationship for decades. Saudi sovereign wealth funds have taken large stakes in American businesses while also looking at sports, as well.
Saudi Arabia, however, relies primarily on U. S. -made weapons and defense systems, which may be only one component of this investment.
There was no immediate word from the White House on the call. It is also clear whether Trump’s call with the crown prince is his first with a foreign leader since his return to the White House. However, this is the first call of this type to be reported.
The crown prince, de facto ruler of the oil-rich kingdom, spoke early Thursday with U. S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
On Monday, after his inauguration, Trump raised the option of visiting the kingdom again on his first visit abroad, 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,” Mr. Trump told journalists in the Oval Office. “If Saudi Arabia wanted to buy another $450 billion or $500 – we’ll up it for all the inflation – I think I’d probably go.”
The 2017 visit to the kingdom set in motion a yearslong boycott of Qatar by four Arab nations, including the kingdom.
Mr. 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 recognize Israel in exchange for U.S. defense protections and other support.
The $600 billion pledge, which dwarfs the gross domestic product of many countries, also comes at a time when the kingdom is facing its own budget pressures. Global oil costs were depressed years after the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, hurting the kingdom’s revenue.
Meanwhile, Prince Mohammed also needs to continue his $500 billion allocation to NEOM, a new city in Saudi Arabia’s western desert on the Red Sea. It will also want to build tens of billions of dollars worth of new stadiums and infrastructure ahead of the 2034 FIFA World Cup.