In Saudi Arabia, President Trump has reached $600 billion with the Saudi government and companies, the White House said on Tuesday. But the details provided by the White House are unclear, with less than half of that number.
The government-provided projects show that several projects were underway before Mr. Trump took office.
The announcement comes ahead of Mr. Trump's conversation with business leaders at the U.S. Sudi Investment Forum in Riyadh, where he said the only country hotter than the United States is Saudi Arabia.
“We're swaying,” he said. “Apart from your country, the United States is the hottest country.”
Before turning to serious foreign policy matters, including news of his sanctions on Syria, Mr. Trump winds through his favorite conversational perspectives, slamming his former former president, former president Joseph R. Biden Jr.
“By the way, Arabian Peninsula – a beautiful place.” “Beautiful place.”
The biggest deal announced was what the government calls “the largest defense sales agreement in history.” The nearly $142 billion deal will provide the Kingdom with state-of-the-art combat equipment and services from more than a dozen U.S. defense industry companies.
The White House also includes commitments from Saudi company Datavolt to invest $20 billion in artificial intelligence data centers and energy infrastructure in the United States.
It also touted more than $2 billion in U.S. companies performing on Saudi infrastructure projects, including Salman International International Airport, King Salman Park and Qiddiya City, a huge entertainment complex. Jacobs announced his involvement in the new Saudi airport project last August. Similarly, AECOM has won a contract for design and project management services for the Qiddiya City project.
The deals announced by the White House totaled about $283 billion, less than half the $600 billion promised by the Saudi crown prince, but the government said these are just “some of the many transformative deals that have been acquired in Saudi Arabia.” More such deals will be reached, White House officials said. (The organizers of the investment forum said 145 transactions were signed, totaling more than $300 billion.)
The White House said the package also includes extensive training and support to build the capabilities of the Saudi armed forces.
In his speech at the meeting, Trump praised the kingdom for its rapid development and claimed that what the Biden administration did not do with the region.
He also followed Iran, calling it “the biggest and most destructive force”, threatening the stability and prosperity of the Middle East, vowing that it will never have nuclear weapons. At the same time, he said he provided Iran with “a new path, and a better path to a better, promising future.”
“I never believed in having a permanent enemy,” Trump said.
He drew applause when the U.S. president announced that the U.S. would lift sanctions on Syria, giving the new administration a chance to rebuild a country that was destroyed by its long civil war.
But the silence in the crowd was silent after he said it was his “desire” to Saudi Arabia join the Abraham Agreement. In 2020, its two neighbors established diplomatic relations with Israel. Polls show that normalization of relations with the Israeli government is unpopular among Saudi Arabians, and Saudi officials say knowing Israel will depend on the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Mr. Trump also spoke about the war in the Gaza Strip between Israel and Hamas.
“The Gaza people should have a better future,” he said. “But this will or will not happen as long as their leaders choose to abduction, torture and target innocent men, women and children for political purposes.”
The White House announcement about the deals comes hours after Mr. Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman signed a series of agreements between the United States and Saudi Arabia.
They include a letter of intent on future defense capabilities; a memorandum of understanding with the Department of Justice; cooperation on space and infectious diseases; and a memorandum of understanding of energy and mineral resources.
They also include an agreement between NASA and Saudi Space Agency To make the Saudi cube fly NASA's Artemis II test flight. The cube will measure various aspects of space weather at a series of distances from the Earth.
The United States and Saudi Arabia have also signed an agreement between the Smithsonian National Zoo and the Royal Alulla Commission to support the protection of endangered Arab leopards by creating a dedicated exhibition in Washington.
Before signing the deal, Trump once again encouraged Saudi Arabia to increase its U.S. investment to $600 billion in four years. Mr. Trump asked to raise that number to $1 trillion, although economists say the kingdom has no financial resources available.
“We have the world's largest business leaders,” Trump said. “They will walk away with a lot of checks.”
Mr. Trump spoke with people gathered at the Sudi Investment Forum in the United States, a wealthy and powerful gathering place in the world. He has stored it for the White House with billionaires, including Elon Musk, the richest man in the world. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent; and David O. Sacks, his AI and crypto consultant. Everyone spoke at the event.
“How do we win AI games?” Mr. Sax told those gatherings. “The answer is that we have to build the largest ecosystem of partners. We need friends like the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other strategic partners and allies to build on our technology.”
If the CEOs of IBM, BlackRock and Citigroup attend, sometimes the gatherings will be like making the United States reappear. Many of them already have Saudi relations. A Saudi host joked that guests “make airlines great again”.
Mohammad Bahareth, 40, a Saudi self-help influencer who runs a private space company, appeared on the forum wearing a “Trump 2028” hat and a red tie. “President Trump always comes as a businessman,” he said. “This is a business mindset.”
“We want technology,” Mr. Bajares said. “We want to support. We want to train our youth. We want these skills to be a superpower in the region.”
Leaders from Amazon, defense giants Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Halliburton attended the meeting. The same is true for Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, the world's largest semiconductor company. Alex Karp, CEO of software company Palantir Technologies; Patrick Soon-Shiong, a businessman who owns the Los Angeles Times.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino also spoke at the event. Saudi Arabia plans to host the World Cup in 2034.
The Kingdom has been trying to transform itself from a country that relies entirely on oil production to a more diverse economy. Saudi officials said oil once represented as much as 90% of government revenue. Although economic activity remains highly dependent on oil, petrochemical and oil-driven government spending, this number is now close to 60%.
Larry Fink, CEO of US investment firm BlackRock, said Saudi Arabia has issued a statement to the world that we want to do ourselves, we will build our economy, and we will build our economy in a way that controls our economy. ”
Mr. Trump told his advisers that he wanted to impose a tax of more than $1 trillion on his overseas trip, including in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, two of the world’s wealthiest countries per capita.
Mr. Trump claimed that he received $450 billion in investment in the United States during his first semester visit to Saudi Arabia in 2017. However, analysis by Saudi Arabia's economist and former IMF missionary Tim Callen found that the payment was not fully realized. Mr. Karen found that when Trump took office from 2017 to 2020, U.S. goods and services exported $92 billion to Saudi Arabia, less than the total during President Barack Obama's second term.
The other two countries where Mr. Trump travels are expected to deliver major deals as well.
