Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman told President Donald Trump in a phone call his country hoped to invest at least $600 billion in American ventures in the next four years, the Saudi Foreign Ministry confirmed on Thursday.
Mohammed bin Salman held a congratulatory phone call with Trump and separately spoke to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday, celebrating the “strength of the U.S.-Saudi partnership in this time of momentous change.” The Crown Prince is widely considered the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia representing the interests of the elderly King Salman.
The optimism and hopes for cooperation out of Riyadh less than a week into Trump’s second term as president contrast significantly with the tense and unproductive relationship Saudi Arabia maintained with the administration of former President Joe Biden.
Biden tainted the relationship before entering the White House by promising to turn Saudi Arabia into a global “pariah” during a presidential debate in the 2020 election cycle, a slight that the crown prince appears to have never forgotten.
Among the lowlights of the U.S.-Saudi relationship under Biden were Saudi Arabia’s decision to normalize relations with the world’s premier state sponsor of terrorism, Iran, and bolster ties to communist China.
The crown prince appeared to indicate that that tide had begun turning with Trump back in the office according to the Saudi government’s readout of his phone call with Trump.