Trump to host Saudi's MBS with eye toward defense, tech deals
Published in News & Features
WASHINGTON — Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will meet U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Tuesday, cementing a burgeoning relationship that the oil-rich kingdom says will advance peace and stability in the Middle East.
MBS, as the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia is known, arrived in Washington on Monday — a rare venture for the 40-year-old royal outside his home region. He’s accompanied by a delegation of officials and aides numbering nearly a thousand, according to people with knowledge of preparations for the visit.
The Crown Prince will be greeted by Trump with nearly all the pomp and circumstance usually reserved for monarchs and heads of state — much as the U.S. leader was welcomed in Riyadh by MBS in May. The centerpiece of the visit will be the signing of a series of agreements covering defense, security and nuclear energy, as well as the purchase by Saudi Arabia of U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets. The Saudis are also expected to seek approval to acquire advanced artificial intelligence chips.
“Saudi Arabia is a rising economic power among the G-20 and a major investment partner of the U.S.,” wrote Saudi commentator Abdulrahman al-Rashed, who is close to the royal court, in the country’s main daily Asharq Al-Awsat. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that the success of Saudi-American relations will have a big impact on the region’s stability and prosperity.”
The visit to the White House and the signing of the deals are important wins for the Saudi leader, who until a few years ago was shunned by many longstanding Western allies — including, briefly, Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden — over the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
On Tuesday, attendees at the dinner at the White House are expected to include Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk and golfer Tiger Woods, Punchbowl News reported. Senior executives from leading tech and energy firms are also expected to attend an investment forum on Wednesday.
But overshadowing much of what will be agreed on Tuesday is that the U.S.-Saudi relationship depends on MBS’s warm rapport with Trump, which dates back to the U.S. leader’s first term. The deals — including the headline defense pact — lack binding commitments that must be secured through Congress and could be unwound by any future president.
“The challenge for the Saudis is that there are no formal guarantees any of this will outlast the Trump administration,” said Jon Alterman, who holds the Zbigniew Brzezinski Chair in Global Security and Geostrategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “The reality is that while MBS is likely to be in power in three decades, he’s going to have to deal with a succession of American presidents.”
The dynamic is best illustrated by the issue of Saudi Arabia’s potential normalization of relations with Israel, a long-term goal of Washington’s and Trump in particular. The issue is not expected to be advanced on this visit, with the war in Gaza in a state of fragile ceasefire and MBS steadfast in his condition that steps must first be taken toward Palestinian statehood.
Another subject of uncertainty is Saudi Arabia’s desire to import advanced American AI chips from the likes of Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., shipments that Washington has restricted since 2023. The two sides have been seeking to resolve security concerns before the U.S. grants a license, people familiar with the matter said last week.
One deal that appears to be finalized is the sale of F-35s, with Trump saying Monday that “we will be doing that” when asked about the potential transaction. Israel is the only state in the Middle East that has the Lockheed Martin Corp.-made planes and wants to keep that monopoly, but that stumbling block has apparently been overcome.
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—With assistance from Marisa Gertz.
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