Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told President Trump on Wednesday that the kingdom plans to increase its investment and trade with the United States by at least $600 billion over the next four years, according to the official Saudi Press Agency .
The crown prince, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, told Trump that his new administration has the ability to create “unprecedented economic prosperity” in the United States and that the kingdom wants to participate, the Saudi Press Agency said . he said.
There was no immediate confirmation of the call from the White House.
Trump has promised to accelerate investment in the United States, particularly to help revive manufacturing. On the campaign trail last year, he said he would use a mix of tax cuts and tariffs to force companies to invest in the United States.
On Tuesday, Trump announced Stargate, a joint venture between OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle that aims to create at least $100 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure. The initiative could invest up to $500 billion over four years.
Saudi Arabia was Trump’s first stop on his first foreign trip as president in 2017, reflecting the importance he placed on his relationship with the crown prince. During that period, the United States pursued major deals with the kingdom, including arms sales.
Since then, Trump and his family have signed numerous personal business deals in the Gulf region, particularly in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The Trump Organization announced several projects in Saudi Arabia in December and also broke ground on a $533 million Trump Tower in Jeddah with Dar Global, the global arm of Saudi Arabia’s Dar Al Arkan real estate company. Both Dar Al Arkan and its subsidiary Dar Global are private companies, but have close ties to the Saudi government.
Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, also secured a $2 billion investment from a Saudi government fund for his private equity firm six months after Trump left the White House in 2021.
“One thing is for sure, Trump and Mohammed bin Salman speak the language of business fluently,” said Salman al-Ansari, a Saudi Arabian geopolitical analyst, using a popular abbreviation of the crown prince’s name.
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday that Saudi Arabia was his first stop abroad during his previous term because “they agreed to buy $450 billion worth of our product.”
If Saudi Arabia wanted to “buy another 450 or 500,” he said, “I think I would probably go there,” for his first foreign trip in his second term.
In the spring, before his election, Trump spoke with the crown prince. It’s unclear what they discussed and whether this was the only conversation they’ve had since Trump left office.
During the campaign, Trump told Al Arabiya, a Saudi-owned broadcaster, that he had “so much respect for Mohammed, who is doing so great.”
Trump stood by the crown prince in the aftermath of the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, despite the CIA’s assessment that the crown prince had likely approved Khashoggi’s killing and dismemberment.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also spoke with the Saudi crown prince, in a phone call during which they discussed the “strength of the U.S.-Saudi partnership in this time of seismic change,” according to a State Department readout. In 2018, while a senator, Rubio said there was “no doubt” that the Saudi crown prince was involved in the Khashoggi murder.
Another goal of the Trump administration is to persuade Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords, an agreement brokered during Trump’s first term that led several Arab nations to establish formal diplomatic relations with Israel.
In a statement released early Thursday morning by the Saudi Press Agency, the Saudis said Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed had also discussed “ways to promote peace, security and stability in the Middle East,” although the statement did not mentioned any discussion. on a potential expansion of such agreements.
In the Oval Office on Monday, Trump also discussed these agreements. He told reporters: “I don’t think it’s necessary to push them. I think it will happen, but maybe not quite yet. But they will end up in the agreements, the Abraham Accords.” When asked when he expected both sides to sign a new agreement, Trump replied: “Soon.”
Last year, Crown Prince Mohammed said the kingdom would not normalize relations with Israel without first gaining recognition of Palestinian statehood, a stance that marked a shift from previous statements.