Trump to host Saudi crown prince at White House on Nov 18
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US President Donald Trump with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a gathering of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh, on May 14.
PHOTO: AFP
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RIYADH - Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is set to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on Nov 18 and sign agreements on artificial intelligence, defence, nuclear cooperation and trade, according to a person familiar with the matter.
It will be the first visit by MBS, as Saudi Arabia’s 40-year-old de facto leader is known, to the US since 2018. Bloomberg earlier reported that he planned to visit at some stage in November.
Normalisation with Israel is expected to be discussed, though it’s unlikely to happen yet and the business and defence deals won’t be conditional on it, the person said, asking to remain anonymous so they could discuss private matters.
The visit will come in the wake of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which Mr Trump and MBS hope will end the two-year war in Gaza.
On the eve of the start of the conflict in 2023, MBS was close to signing a broad deal with the US that would have involved Saudi Arabia recognising Israel and getting American security guarantees.
The conflict stalled those talks, with the Saudis insisting Israel needed to accept Palestinian statehood as a condition for normalisation.
That broad pact was also meant to see Saudi Arabia get US help to build a nuclear-energy sector.
The MBS trip to the White House will also come on the back of Mr Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia in May as part of a Gulf tour that included neighbouring Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
At the time, Mr Trump, who was accompanied by more than 30 US business leaders, said US$1 trillion (S$1.3 trillion) of deals – including many related to AI chips and data centers – were signed during his stay in Riyadh. Later, the White House said it was more like US$600 billion.
CBS News earlier reported the specific date of MBS’s visit to Washington. BLOOMBERG
