RIYADH (Reuters)

President Donald Trump secured a US$600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia on Tuesday (May 13) to invest in the United States after the oil power accorded him a gala welcome at the start of a tour of Gulf states.

Trump punched the air as he emerged from Air Force One to be greeted by Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who later signed an agreement with the president in Riyadh on energy, defence, mining and other areas.

The U.S. agreed to sell Saudi Arabia an arms package worth nearly US$142 billion, according to a White House fact sheet that called it “the largest defence cooperation agreement” Washington has ever done.

The agreement covers deals with more than a dozen US defence companies in areas including air and missile defence, air force and space advancement, maritime security and communications, the fact sheet said.

“Today we hope for investment opportunities worth US$600 billion, including deals worth US$300 billion that were signed during this forum,” the Saudi crown prince said in a speech during a US-Saudi Investment Forum session held in Riyadh on the occasion of Trump’s visit.

“We will work in the coming months on the second phase to complete deals and raise it to $1 trillion,” he said.

Saudi Arabia is one of the largest customers for US arms.

Reuters reported in April that Washington was poised to offer the kingdom an arms package worth well over US$100 billion.

“I really believe we like each other a lot,” Trump said during a meeting with the crown prince, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler.

The US and Saudi Arabia had discussed Riyadh’s potential purchase of Lockheed F-35 jets, two sources briefed on discussions told Reuters, referring to a military aircraft that the kingdom is long thought to have been interested in.

It was not immediately clear whether those aircraft were covered in the deal announced on Tuesday.

Trump, who was accompanied by US business leaders including billionaire Elon Musk, will go on from Riyadh to Qatar on Wednesday and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.

He has not scheduled a stop in Israel, a decision that has raised questions about where the close ally stands in Washington’s priorities, and the focus of the trip is on investment rather than security matters in the Middle East.

“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 told the investment 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 told the investment forum that relations with Saudi Arabia will be even stronger.

He was shown speaking with Riyadh’s 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’s flashy, multi-billion-dollar development projects.

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.

BIG INVESTMENTS

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.

Musk chatted briefly with both Trump and the crown prince, who is otherwise known as MbS, during a palace reception for the US 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.

MbS has focused on diversifying the Saudi economy in a major reform programme dubbed Vision 2030 that includes “Giga-projects” such as NEOM, a futuristic city the size of Belgium. Oil generated 62 per cent of Saudi government revenue last year.

The kingdom has scaled back some of its ambitions as rising costs and falling oil prices weigh.

Saudi Arabia and the US have maintained strong ties for decades based on an ironclad arrangement in which the kingdom delivers oil and the superpower provides security in exchange.

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.

Israel’s military operations against Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and its assassinations of the two Iran-allied groups’ leaders, have at the same time given Trump more leverage by weakening Tehran and its regional allies.

US and Iranian negotiators met in Oman at the weekend to discuss a potential deal to curb Tehran’s nuclear programme. Trump has threatened military action against Iran if diplomacy fails.

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.

Trump’s 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.

Trump said it was his “fervent hope” that Saudi Arabia would soon sign its own normalisation agreement with Israel, adding, “But you’ll do it in your own time.”

Still, Netanyahu’s 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.