Trump to host Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at White House in November
Salman’s first US visit since 2018 potentially includes Israel normalisation talks and follows Trump’s US$600 billion Middle East deal in May
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is set to meet US President Donald Trump at the White House on November 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 Saudi Arabia’s 40-year-old de facto leader 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 will not 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 Trump and Salman hope will end the two-year war in Gaza. On the eve of the start of the conflict in 2023, Salman 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 Salman trip to the White House will also come on the back of Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia in May as part of a Gulf tour that included neighbouring Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.