Trump seeks Saudi investment of one trillion dollars in US companies

Donald Trump could make his first foreign trip to Saudi Arabia after his reappointment as US president.

The US president's goal is to secure a trillion-dollar investment in US companies from the Saudi kingdom.

Speaking to journalists in the Oval Office, Trump said he would probably travel to the Saudi kingdom in the next month and a half. He pointed out that the first trip abroad of his first term was to Riyadh in 2017 to announce Saudi investments estimated at 350 billion dollars. 

‘This time, they have gotten richer and we have all gotten older,’ Trump said. 

He said that, at his request, the Saudis were willing to invest a trillion dollars over four years in US companies, including the purchase of US military equipment. 

Saudi Arabia has been taking on a more prominent role in US foreign policy. Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, told reporters that the Saudis will organise a meeting between the US and Ukraine next week to discuss a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine. 

When asked if he would meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Saudi Arabia, Trump confirmed his intention to visit the oil-rich Gulf nation but suggested that business was the main reason. 

‘I'm going to Saudi Arabia,’ Trump told reporters, without mentioning a date. 

‘I said I will if you pay one trillion dollars, one trillion dollars to American companies, (spreading) the purchase over a period of four years, of one trillion dollars,’ he said, referring to the duration of his presidency. 

‘They agreed to do that, so I'm going there.’ 

The Trump Administration has also promised to move full speed ahead in trying to persuade Saudi Arabia to normalise relations with Israel, in what would be a historic step, as the Saudi kingdom is home to Islam's two holiest sites. But achieving that goal remains an uphill task, as Israel rejects the idea of an independent Palestinian state, which Riyadh has made a precondition for normalisation. 

The US president has forged close commercial ties with Saudi Arabia and the Trump administration announced in December the construction of a Trump Tower in Jeddah. 

In February, Trump met with officials from the PGA Tour and the Saudi-owned LIV Golf club to resolve a dispute between the two. 

Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and Middle East adviser during his first term, founded a private equity firm that received $2 billion in Saudi investments after Trump left office. Donald Trump has also recently presided over a series of announcements about companies investing heavily in the US economy, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing and Apple. 

Trump has not yet travelled abroad since returning to the White House.