The News
What’s a couple hundred billion dollars among friends?
The week began with US President Donald Trump placing a $500 billion price tag on making his first foreign visit to Riyadh. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pledged to boost investments and trade with the US to $600 billion during Trump’s presidency, while Saudi Arabia’s finance minister revealed the kingdom already holds over $770 billion in American investments.
In his Davos address on Thursday, Trump said that he’d ask the crown prince — “who’s a fantastic guy” — to round it up to $1 trillion.
Numbers aside, it’s clear that ties between Trump and the kingdom remain warm, even as the president chided Saudi Arabia and OPEC for failing to bring down oil prices. “Frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t do it before the election. That didn’t show a lot of love by them not doing it,” he said at Davos.
Trump is also seeking Saudi cooperation on broader goals, including the normalization of ties with Israel that would further deepen security links between Washington and Riyadh.