U.S. President Donald Trump touched down in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, kicking off a four-day tour of the wealthy Gulf region with more focus on striking mega economic deals than pressing security issues such as Israel's genocidal war in Gaza and negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.
Emerging from Air Force One, Trump punched the air in a show of solidarity when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman greeted him at King Khalid International Airport as he arrived in Riyadh with a who's who of business leaders in tow, including billionaire Elon Musk.
Trump will go on from Riyadh, which is hosting a Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum, to Qatar on Wednesday and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday. But he has not scheduled a stop in Israel, a decision that has raised questions about where the close ally stands in Washington's priorities.
"While energy remains a cornerstone of our relationship, the investments and business opportunities in the kingdom have expanded and multiplied many, many times over," Saudi Investment Minister Khalid al-Falih said as he opened the forum.
"As a result... when Saudis and Americans join forces very good things happen, more often than not, great things happen when those joint ventures happen," he said before Trump's arrival.
Trump hoped to secure trillions of dollars of investments from the Gulf oil producers.
In a meeting at the Royal Court, Trump called the Saudi crown prince a friend and said they have a good relationship, according to a pool report from the Wall Street Journal.
Trump recalled travelling to the kingdom in 2017 and said Saudi investment would help create jobs in the U.S.
He said jokingly that a $600-billion investment pledge by Saudi Arabia could be $1 trillion, repeating a figure he has cited before as he seeks investment from an important strategic partner.
"I really believe we like each other a lot," Trump said.
The Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum began with a video showing soaring eagles and falcons and celebrating the long history between the United States and the kingdom.
At the front of a palatial hall sat Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, Stephen Schwartzman, CEO of Blackstone, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan and Falih.
Speaking at a forum panel, Fink said he had traveled to Saudi Arabia more than 65 times over 20 years. While the kingdom had been a follower when he first started visiting, it was now "taking control" and broadening its economy out of its oil base, he said.
Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX chief, chatted briefly with both Trump and the crown prince, who is otherwise known as MBS, during a reception at a palace for the U.S. president.
Joining Trump for a lunch with MBS were top U.S. businesspeople, including Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX chief, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Musk is also leading the Department of Government Efficiency, a controversial second-term effort tasked with slashing waste, fraud and abuse in the U.S. government.
MBS has focused on diversifying the kingdom's economy in a major reform program dubbed Vision 2030 that includes "Giga-projects" such as NEOM, a futuristic city the size of Belgium.
Oil generated 62% of Saudi government revenue last year.
"About a billion dollars of investment is being made in frontier technologies and obviously it is no surprise that the lion's share of these investments has gone into U.S. companies," NEOM Deputy CEO Rayan Fayez told the forum.
The kingdom has had to scale back some of its lofty ambitions as rising costs and falling oil prices weigh.
Saudi Arabia and the U.S. have maintained strong ties for decades based on an ironclad arrangement in which the kingdom delivers oil and the superpower provides security.
Saudi Arabia and fellow OPEC nations have already helped their cause with Trump early in his second term by stepping up oil production. Trump sees cheap energy as a key component to lowering costs and stemming inflation for Americans. The president has also made the case that lower oil prices will hasten an end to the Russia-Ukraine war.
But Saudi Arabia's economy remains heavily dependent on oil, and the kingdom needs a fiscal break-even oil price of $96 to $98 a barrel to balance its budget. It's questionable how long the OPEC, of which Saudi Arabia is the leading member, is willing to keep production elevated. The price of a barrel of Brent crude closed Monday at $64.77.
"One of the challenges for the Gulf states of lower oil prices is it doesn't necessarily imperil economic diversification programs, but it certainly makes them harder," said Jon Alterman, a senior Middle East analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
Trump has also said he may travel on Thursday to Türkiye for potential talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the war. An aide to Zelenskyy said the Ukrainian president would take part only if Putin does. The Russian leader has not said if he will attend, and has questioned Zelenskyy's legitimacy.
Trump's second foreign trip since returning to the presidency in January – his first was to Rome for Pope Francis' funeral – comes at a time of geopolitical tension. Riyadh was the first overseas stop of his first term.
In addition to pressing for a settlement in Ukraine, the Trump administration is pushing for a new aid mechanism for Gaza after 19 months of war and urging Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree on a new cease-fire deal there.
Before Israel launched its genocidal attacks on Gaza, the crown prince was finalizing a landmark diplomatic agreement: a U.S. defense pact in exchange for Riyadh recognizing Israel.
But the scale of Israel's devastating campaign, killing 52,000 people and displacing 1.9 million in Gaza, forced a pause in the talks. The crown prince accused Israel of genocide.
Israeli officials have put a brave face on Trump's decision to bypass Israel during his trip, but there are growing doubts in Israel about its position in his priorities as frustration mounts in Washington over the failure to end the Gaza war.
Before the trip, Trump announced that Washington was halting a nearly two-month U.S. airstrike campaign against Yemen's Houthis, saying the Iran-backed rebels have pledged to stop attacking ships along a vital global trade route.
The administration didn't notify Israel of the agreement before Trump publicly announced it. It was the latest example of Trump leaving the Israelis in the dark about his administration's negotiations with common adversaries.
In March, Netanyahu wasn't notified by the administration until after talks began with the Palestinian resistance group Hamas about the war in Gaza. And Netanyahu found out about the ongoing U.S. nuclear talks with Iran only when Trump announced them during an Oval Office visit by the Israeli prime minister last month.
William Wechsler, senior director of the Rafik Hariri Center and Middle East Programs at the Atlantic Council, said Trump's decision to skip Israel on his first Middle East visit is remarkable.
"The main message coming out of this, at least as the itinerary stands today, is that the governments of the Gulf... are in fact stronger friends to President Trump than the current government of Israel at this moment," Wechsler said.
Over the weekend, U.S. and Iranian negotiators met in Oman to discuss a potential deal to curb Tehran's nuclear program. Trump has threatened military action against Iran if diplomacy fails.
Iran's Nournews quoted armed forces chief of staff Mohammad Bagheri as saying on Tuesday that Iran's neighbors should retain neutrality and that any aggression against Iran would lead to definitive retaliation.
Trump is expected to offer Saudi Arabia an arms package worth more than $100 billion, sources told Reuters. This could include a range of advanced weapons.
Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said last week he expected progress imminently on expanding the Abraham Accords, a set of deals brokered by Trump in his first term by which Arab states, including the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco, recognized Israel.
But opposition by Netanyahu to a permanent stop to the war in Gaza or to the creation of a Palestinian state is said to make progress on similar talks with Riyadh unlikely.
Riyadh has made it clear that in exchange for normalization, it wants U.S. security guarantees, assistance with the kingdom's nuclear program and progress on a pathway to Palestinian statehood.
The crown prince last week notably hosted Palestinian Vice President Hussein Sheikh in Jeddah on the latter's first foreign visit since assuming office in April.
Hussain Abdul-Hussain, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said the crown prince appeared to be subtly signaling to Trump that the kingdom needs to see progress on Palestinian statehood for the Saudis to begin seriously moving on a normalization deal with the Israelis.
"Knowing how the Saudis telegraph their intentions, that's a preemptive, 'Don't even think of asking us to show any goodwill toward normalization,'" Abdul-Hussain said.
