Saudi crown prince vows huge trade, investment boosts in call with Trump

RIYADH: Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman congratulated Donald Trump on his return to the White House, saying in a call on Thursday that the kingdom would massively expand its investments and trade with the United States.

Saudi Arabia's top official passed on congratulations from his father, King Salman, during the call with Trump, according to a foreign ministry statement.

The crown prince added that the kingdom would "expand its investment and trade with the United States to $600 billion over four years, and potentially beyond that".

In his own call with the crown prince on Thursday, new US Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed the Middle East and "the threats posed by Iran and its proxies", according to a statement.

"They also discussed the benefits of the US-Saudi economic partnership and the opportunities to grow their economies in a variety of fields including AI," a spokesperson for Rubio said.

During his first administration, Trump actively courted Saudi Arabia, long an important energy and security partner for Washington.

His first overseas visit in 2017 was to the Saudi capital Riyadh, where he basked in an elaborate welcome involving a sword dance and a fly-past of air force jets.

Relations later cooled with Prince Mohammed faulting Trump for failing to respond more aggressively after a 2019 attack widely blamed on Iran halved the Gulf kingdom's crude output.

Riyadh and Trump's team nevertheless sought to boost ties after his departure from the White House, in particular via investments and construction deals for his privately owned conglomerate the Trump Organisation.

Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, has also defended receiving a Saudi investment in his private equity firm that reports put at $2 billion.