24 January 2025, 06:22
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President Donald Trump has demanded Saudi Arabia invest $1 trillion in the United States and lower oil prices.
The newly inaugurated president’s comments come after the Saudi crown prince said his kingdom would invest $600 million in the US over the next four years.
But Trump wants more, telling the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that if the crown prince wants him to visit Saudi Arabia investment must go up and oil prices must go down.
“But I’ll be asking the Crown Prince, who’s a fantastic guy, to round it out to around $1 trillion,” Trump said.
“I think they’ll do that because we’ve been very good to them.”
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Mr Trump’s 2017 trip to Saudi Arabia upended a tradition of US 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.
The comments from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, reported early on Thursday by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, came in a phone call with Mr Trump.
It marked Mr Trump’s first call with a foreign leader since his inauguration on 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 dollars, and potentially beyond that,” the report said.
The readout did not elaborate on where those investments and trade could be placed.
The US in recent years has increasingly pulled away from relying on Saudi oil exports, which were once 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 does, however, rely predominantly on US-made weapons and defence 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 States and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” the statement said, without elaborating.
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The crown prince, the de facto ruler of the oil-rich kingdom, also spoke to US secretary of state Marco Rubio early on Thursday.
On Monday after his inauguration, Mr 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 UK but … I did it with Saudi Arabia last time because they agreed to buy 450 billion dollars worth of our products,” Mr Trump told journalists in the Oval Office.
“If Saudi Arabia wanted to buy another 450 billion dollars or 500 – we’ll up it for all the inflation – I think I’d probably go.”
On a potential trip to Saudi Arabia, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told journalists on Thursday: “I’m not aware of any plans at this time.”
Mr Trump’s 2017 visit to the kingdom set in motion a years-long 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 had also been talking for years with the Biden administration about a wider deal to diplomatically recognise Israel in exchange for US defence protections and other support.
The 600 billion dollar 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 coronavirus pandemic, affecting the kingdom’s revenues.
