“Trump was presented with the highest honor for a foreign dignitary, the collar of Abdulaziz al-Saud, named for the kingdom’s founder.”
“This is the beginning of a turning point in the relationship between the United States and the Arab and Islamic world,” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir proclaimed while standing alongside Secretary of State Tillerson.
Trump’s visit, he said, “begins to change the conversation” with the Islamic world “from one of enmity to one of partnership.”
In addition to the security agreements, Jubeir said, U.S. business leaders here at an economic forum designed to coincide with Trump’s visit signed deals potentially worth more than $200 billion over the next ten years.
In his first overseas visit, President Trump achieved a remarkable feat. What appears to be happening is a complete reversal of the estrangement between the U.S., and the Gulf States experienced under President Obama.
President Trump is the first U.S. President in history to make Saudi Arabia his first foreign visit. Trump was presented with the highest honor for a foreign dignitary, the collar of Abdulaziz al-Saud, named for the kingdom’s founder, which Salman hung on a thick gold chain around Trump’s neck.
Trump was welcomed by Saudi Arabia’s King Salman at the airport surrounded by soldiers on horseback, who flanked his limousine as it drove across the tarmac The personal welcome of the President by the King in an indication of just how important the visit was viewed by the royal family.
President Trump is ushering in a new era in U.S.-Saudi relations by signing a joint “strategic vision” that includes $110 billion in American arms sales and other new investments that the administration said would bring hundreds of thousands of jobs.
“It was a great day,” Trump said. “tremendous investments in the United States and jobs, jobs, jobs.”
Although the $110 billion dollar deal is enormous, it is only a small part of the agreements Trump facilitated and helped move along. All told the deals signed, agreed to, or forwarded this weekend total almost $400 billion dollars.
The deals include a massive investment in U.S. infrastructure projects privately funded along with a Saudi investment of $20 billion. These projects will create thousands of high-paying jobs in the U.S.
During his presidential campaign, Trump talked about infrastructure projects being privately funded. This is exactly what is happening in the deal signed between U.S. private equity firm Blackstone, and Saudi Arabia’s main sovereign wealth fund. They plan to create a $40 billion vehicle to invest in infrastructure projects, mainly in the United States.
Blackstone and the Public Investment Fund (PIF) signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding for the project, which will depend on further negotiations. The proposed venture was announced during the visit to Riyadh of President Donald Trump, who has said he wants to rebuild crumbling U.S. infrastructure.
Blackstone said it expected the vehicle to have $40 billion of equity commitments, with a $20 billion anchor investment from the PIF with the rest from other investors. Through this equity plus debt financing, Blackstone expects to invest in more than $100 billion of infrastructure projects, it said.
With the news of the success of the visit, defense and aerospace stocks rallied Monday after Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf States signed arms deals worth $350 billion with the U.S. over the weekend.
Not wasting any time, President Donald Trump and King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud of Saudi Arabia signed some of the deals during Trump’s visit to Riyadh on Saturday. The agreements would stretch over the next decade.
The contracts also allow for workshare and technology transfer between the nations as part of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 economic plan, according to analysts at Vertical Research Partners.
“The package of defense equipment and services supports the long-term security of Saudi Arabia and the entire Gulf region in particular in the face of malign Iranian influence and Iranian-related threats, which exists on Saudi Arabia’s borders on all sides,” U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told reporters.
In a joint news conference with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Saudi Foreign Minister al-Jubeir said:
“In addition to the signing of this Strategic Vision Declaration, the two countries signed a series of agreements, both commercial as well as government to government; that involve trade, investment; that involve infrastructure, that involve technology, that involve defense sales; that involve Saudi investments in American infrastructure as well as American investments in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, whether in the form of building up our defense manufacturing capability or other areas.”
“The total value of those investments is in excess of $380 billion. I will not get into the details because I believe our colleagues have briefed the media about this extensively. We expect that these investments over the next ten years or so will provide hundreds of thousands of jobs in both the United States and in Saudi Arabia. They will lead to a transfer of technology from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia, enhance our economy, and also enhance the American investments in Saudi Arabia, which already are the largest investments of anyone.”
The deals signed so far are the largest in history, all on his first visit, and in the first couple of days of the trip. It seems the damage in relations predicated by his predecessor, President Obama, were wiped away in one fell swoop.
President Trump, removed from the political sniping and backstabbing that has plagued his administration since taking office, is hitting on all cylinders. He is in his element and is conducting the business of the U.S. From the results so far it is easy to see how the author of “ The Art Of The Deal,” is getting the job done.
