U.S. President Donald Trump, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and tech magnate Elon Musk addressed the high-profile U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum today in Riyadh, signaling a renewed strategic and economic alignment between the two powers.
Delayed but highly anticipated, their appearances underscored several key themes: deepening defense ties, Saudi Arabia’s AI ambitions, and broader regional diplomacy efforts in the shadow of the Gaza war.
Central to the day’s buzz was talk of Saudi Arabia’s long-standing interest in acquiring F-35 fighter jets, a sensitive subject given Israel’s monopoly over the stealth aircraft in the Middle East. Washington remains cautious, mindful of its “Qualitative Military Edge” pledge to Israel, though Riyadh’s lobbying continues behind closed doors.
Trump signed a sweeping economic pact with the kingdom that includes a record-setting $142 billion in defense sales and an overall $600 billion investment into the U.S. economy. This agreement, covering sectors like energy and mining, also features symbolic gestures such as the establishment of an Arabian leopard exhibit in Washington, D.C.
Musk and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang introduced major tech collaborations, including a 500-megawatt AI data center project, while Uber’s CEO promised autonomous vehicles on Saudi streets within the year — part of the kingdom’s Vision 2030 transformation plan.
Notably absent from Trump’s itinerary is Israel — a deliberate omission as normalization talks with Saudi Arabia remain stalled amid the war in Gaza. Saudi officials continue to demand a ceasefire and credible steps toward Palestinian statehood before moving forward with diplomatic recognition.
The visit evokes echoes of Trump’s 2017 tour, where he inked a $110 billion arms deal and was greeted with royal pageantry — a sharp contrast to the cool reception President Biden faced in 2022.
Trump's next stops include Qatar and the UAE, while his envoys prepare for tentative talks in Turkey on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Whether this tour reshapes the geopolitical balance or merely reinforces familiar alliances remains to be seen — but the forum today clearly signaled that Riyadh and Washington are recalibrating for a new era of transactional power diplomacy.