‘US and Saudi partnering on energy like never before,’ says Trump at investment forum

US and Saudi Arabia officials touted billions of dollars in new investments and growing financial ties between the two countries on Wednesday, coinciding with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington. President Donald Trump spoke at the US-Saudi Investment Forum at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday and said, “America and Saudi Arabia are partnering on energy like we’ve never partnered before. American and Saudi companies represented here today are joining on Liquified Natural Gas, infrastructure construction, and making both of our energy sectors... so strong.”

“This week, our countries also signed groundbreaking agreements on civil nuclear energy, critical minerals, and Artificial Intelligence... and yesterday, the Crown Prince announced that the number that they’ll be investing in the United States is $1 trillion.”

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Trump further announced that GE Aerospace “will soon be delivering dozens of new airplane engines for 787 Dreamliners” to Saudi Arabia.

“Every new job and every new factory created by these announcements builds up our Middle Class, and strengthens the industrial backbone of America.”

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The CEOs from Chevron, Qualcomm, Cisco, General Dynamics, and Pfizer attended the US-Saudi Investment Forum at the Kennedy Center in Washington. Senior executives from IBM, Alphabet’s Google, Salesforce, Andreessen Horowitz, Boeing, Halliburton, Adobe, Aramco, State Street, and Parsons Corp were also present.

Trump said $270 billion in agreements and sales are being signed between dozens of companies on Wednesday. Bin Salman also touted the investment agreements both were signing.

“The agreements finalized yesterday open the door for US companies to lead globally (in) innovation, in safety and in deployment,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said.

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On Tuesday, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman promised to increase his country’s US investment to $1 trillion from a $600 billion pledge he made when Trump visited Saudi Arabia in May. But he offered no details or timetable.

Trump said he pushed him to go higher. “Could you make it $1.5 trillion?” he asked.

Bin Salman rubbed shoulders with many of Corporate America's most powerful executives at the event on Wednesday, a day after President Donald Trump reintroduced him to official Washington with a glowing endorsement from the White House.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang talked about the future of AI. Musk predicted work will be optional in 10 or 20 years, while Huang said he thought AI would change the future of employment.

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It is the first trip by bin Salman to the US since the 2018 killing of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul, which caused a global uproar. US intelligence concluded bin Salman approved the capture or killing of Khashoggi.

A $1 trillion investment in the US would be difficult for Saudi Arabia to pull together given its heavy spending on an already-ambitious series of massive projects at home, including futuristic megacities that have gone over budget and faced delays, and stadiums for the 2034 World Cup.