{"id":851802,"date":"2025-05-28T19:12:14","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T00:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/28\/trump-secures-600-bn-saudi-investment-pledge-finalises-record-142-bn-arms-deal\/"},"modified":"2025-05-28T19:12:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T00:12:14","slug":"trump-secures-600-bn-saudi-investment-pledge-finalises-record-142-bn-arms-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/28\/trump-secures-600-bn-saudi-investment-pledge-finalises-record-142-bn-arms-deal\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump secures $600 bn Saudi investment pledge, finalises record $142 bn arms deal"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In a major boost to US-Saudi ties, President Donald Trump secured a $600 billion investment pledge from Riyadh and agreed on a $142 billion arms deal \u2014 touted as Washington\u2019s largest-ever defence agreement<\/p>\n

Trump is on a three-nation tour that began in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. He will also be travelling to United Arab Emirates and Qatar. It is the first major foreign trip of his second term.<\/p>\n

Trump emerged from Air Force One punching in the air as he was welcomed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The two later signed a sweeping agreement in Riyadh covering energy, defence, mining, and other sectors.<\/p>\n

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As part of the visit, Trump also finalised a nearly $142 billion arms package for Saudi Arabia, which the White House described as the largest defence cooperation deal in US history.<\/p>\n

The package includes contracts with over a dozen American defence firms in key areas such as air and missile defence, aerospace, maritime security, and military communications.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday we hope for investment opportunities worth $600 billion, including deals worth $300 billion that were signed during this forum,\u201d Reuters<\/em> quoted the Saudi crown prince as saying in a speech during a US-Saudi Investment Forum session held in Riyadh on the occasion of Trump\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will work in the coming months on the second phase to complete deals and raise it to $1 trillion,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia ranks among the top buyers of US weaponry. In April, Reuters<\/em> reported that Washington was preparing to offer the kingdom an arms package exceeding $100 billion in value.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really believe we like each other a lot,\u201d Reuters<\/em> quoted Trump as saying during a meeting with the crown prince, Saudi Arabia\u2019s de facto ruler.<\/p>\n

The US and Saudi Arabia have held talks on Riyadh\u2019s possible acquisition of Lockheed Martin\u2019s F-35 fighter jets, Reuters<\/em> quoted sources familiar with the discussions, a deal long sought by the kingdom. However, it remains unclear if the F-35s are part of the package announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n

President Trump, joined by US business leaders including Elon Musk, will continue his Gulf tour with stops in Qatar on Wednesday and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Israel is not on the itinerary, prompting speculation about its current standing in US foreign policy priorities. The focus of Trump\u2019s visit is centered on economic investment rather than regional security.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWhile energy remains a cornerstone of our relationship, the investments and business opportunities in the kingdom have expanded and multiplied many, many times over,\u201d Saudi Investment Minister Khalid al-Falih told the investment forum.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a result \u2026 when Saudis and Americans join forces very good things happen, more often than not great things happen when those joint ventures happen,\u201d he said before Trump\u2019s arrival.<\/p>\n

Trump told the investment forum that relations with Saudi Arabia will be even stronger.<\/p>\n

He was shown speaking with Riyadh\u2019s sovereign wealth fund governor Yaser al-Rumayyan, Aramco CEO Amin Nasser, and Falih as he toured a hall that showed off models for the kingdom\u2019s flashy, multi-billion-dollar development projects.<\/p>\n

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, adding that Saudi investment would help create jobs in the U.S.<\/p>\n

Big investments<\/h3>\n

Business leaders at the investment forum included Larry Fink, the CEO of asset management firm BlackRock; Stephen A. Schwartzman, CEO of asset manager Blackstone; and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.<\/p>\n

Musk chatted briefly with both Trump and the crown prince, who is otherwise known as MbS, during a palace reception for the U.S. president. And joining Trump for a lunch with MbS were top US businessmen including Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX chief, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.<\/p>\n

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MbS has focused on diversifying the Saudi economy in a major reform programme dubbed Vision 2030 that includes \u201cGiga-projects\u201d such as NEOM, a futuristic city the size of Belgium. Oil generated 62% of Saudi government revenue last year.<\/p>\n

The kingdom has scaled back some of its ambitions as rising costs and falling oil prices weigh.<\/p>\n

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 in exchange.<\/p>\n

Trump left Israel off his schedule although he wants Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a new ceasefire deal in the 19-month-old Gaza war.<\/p>\n

Israel\u2019s military operations against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and its assassinations of the two Iran-allied groups\u2019 leaders, have at the same time given Trump more leverage by weakening Tehran and its regional allies.<\/p>\n

U.S. and Iranian negotiators met in Oman at the weekend to discuss a potential deal to curb Tehran\u2019s nuclear program. Trump has threatened military action against Iran if diplomacy fails.<\/p>\n

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Trump told the investment forum he wants to offer Iran a new and better path toward a more helpful future. If no new nuclear deal is reached, he said, Tehran will face maximum pressure.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said last week he expected progress imminently on expanding accords brokered by Trump in his 2017-21 first term under which Arab states including the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco recognised Israel.<\/p>\n

Trump said it was his \u201cfervent hope\u201d that Saudi Arabia would soon sign its own normalization agreement with Israel, adding, \u201cBut you\u2019ll do it in your own time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Netanyahu\u2019s opposition to a permanent stop to the war in Gaza or to the creation of a Palestinian state makes progress on similar talks with the Saudis unlikely, sources told Reuters<\/em>.<\/p>\n

With inputs from agencies<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In a major boost to US-Saudi ties, President Donald Trump secured a $600 billion investment pledge from Riyadh and agreed on a $142 billion arms deal \u2014 touted as Washington\u2019s largest-ever defence agreement Trump is on a three-nation tour that began in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday. He will also be travelling to United Arab Emirates<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":851803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23916,4],"tags":[7792,5052],"class_list":["post-851802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-secures","category-trump","tag-secures","tag-trump"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=851802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/851802\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/851803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=851802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=851802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=851802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}