The agenda reportedly includes security ties, weapons deals, trade and investment – and Trump’s ambition to have Saudi Arabia join the Abraham Accords.
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) is set to meet United States President Donald Trump in his first trip to Washington in eight years.
The agenda for the MBS-Trump meeting reportedly includes US-Saudi security ties, weapons deals, trade and investment and Trump’s ambition to have Saudi Arabia join the Abraham Accords and normalise relations with Israel.
The high-profile visit could shape Saudi-US ties and the region for years to come. Here’s all you need to know:
When is the meeting, and what’s the schedule?
The meeting will take place on November 18 in the US capital, Washington, DC.
Trump is reportedly pulling out all the stops to impress the crown prince, with a lavish welcome ceremony to greet him when he steps off the plane.
A sit-down meeting with Trump at the Oval Office tops the agenda, followed by a ceremony where agreements made between the two countries will be signed, and a formal luncheon.
MBS will also speak with members of Congress and American business tycoons who have been invited to the White House, likely at a black-tie dinner in the East Room of the White House on Tuesday evening.
What is on MBS’s agenda during this visit?
Trade and investment, weapons deals, and defence cooperation, mainly.
Trump announced on Monday, a day before MBS’s arrival, that he would approve the sale of US F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, something the kingdom has long sought.
The multibillion-dollar deal is reportedly for up to 48 jets and would make Saudi Arabia the first Arab country to own the advanced weapon.
Saudi Arabia has hundreds of billions of dollars in investments in the US and is expected to announce more on this trip, likely in artificial intelligence and civilian nuclear energy.
Bin Salman will likely be seeking security guarantees that Saudi Arabia feels the US has not adequately met, as Israel’s increasing regional aggression, with US support, has put the region on edge.
What does Trump want to address?
Trump has prioritised Saudi investments in the US for years, so that is likely to be high on the agenda.
He also speaks often of wanting Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords, a series of Trump-brokered agreements that saw Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates normalise relations with Israel in 2020.
Saudi Arabia has maintained that it would not consider such a move until a credible path to a Palestinian state has been established.
On Monday night, a US-sponsored resolution passed in the United Nations Security Council that referred to conditions the Palestinian Authority had to fulfil, at the end of which “the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood”.
What are Saudi-US ties like?
Saudi-US ties date back nearly a century and are mostly centred around oil and defence.
US company, Standard Oil of California – later part of Chevron – was the first international company granted exploration rights in Saudi Arabia in 1933, a year after Saudi Arabia’s independence, culminating in the establishment of the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco).
In 1951, the Saudi-US Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement entered into force, outlining US military protection to Saudi Arabia in exchange for a reliable oil supply.
Between 1971 and 1972, Saudi Arabia’s arms purchases from the US increased from $14.8m to $459m, according to a 1977 report carried out by the US General Accounting Office.
The spike in weapons sales coincided with a boom in Saudi oil exports, from $655m in 1965 to $26.7bn in 1975, according to the Baker Institute at Rice University.
Saudi weapons purchases from the US have continued to rise, with a commitment this year to buy $142bn worth of arms and defence equipment.
The close relationship frayed during former US President Joe Biden’s administration, after the assassination of Saudi critic and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. MBS denied ordering the assassination but took responsibility as Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader.
But after Russia invaded Ukraine and fuel prices rose, Biden had an about-face, visiting Saudi Arabia and giving MBS a widely covered fist bump.
In recent years, Saudi Arabia has diversified trade partners and hedged bets through closer relations with China.
But Trump and MBS have a warm relationship. During Trump’s tour of the Gulf in May, Saudi Arabia announced a $600bn investment in the US.
However, Saudi Arabia may still be hedging its bets. In September, shortly after an Israeli attack on Qatar, Saudi Arabia signed a defence pact with Pakistan.
The move was significant because for most of its existence, Saudi Arabia relied heavily on the US for its defence.
What else do they trade?
Trade between the two countries is soaring in multiple sectors after Saudi Arabia expanded investments and trade with the US to $600bn in January.
According to an official statement and breakdown from the White House, Saudi Arabia will be investing $20bn in artificial intelligence (AI) and AI data centres in the US.
In addition, US companies such as Hill International, Jacobs and Parsons have won bids to build huge infrastructure projects in Saudi Arabia.
These projects include the King Salman International Airport as well as other mega infrastructure projects that amount to $2bn.
However, Saudi Arabia is still pursuing a comprehensive security pact with the United States, a deal that would require the US to come to the active defence of the kingdom if it is ever threatened.
What could be the most significant outcomes?
This trip signals that Saudi Arabia is welcome in the White House and is an important ally for the Trump administration.
Saudi Arabia is still hedging its bets in terms of security and trade, but the United States remains an important partner and protector for the kingdom.
The US is unlikely to wrangle normalisation out of the Saudis, while the Saudis may not get the full security agreement they are seeking, either.
However, MBS’s visit could have an impact on the Middle East. Trump sees MBS as an ally, and his influence contributed to Trump’s decision to remove sanctions on Syria, meaning MBS could again shift the dial on regional issues such as Palestine, Lebanon and, of course, Syria.
