US President Donald Trump said Thursday he planned to visit Saudi Arabia, suggesting a deal for major investment from the kingdom that has become the key venue for US diplomacy with Russia and Ukraine.

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

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

“I said, I’ll go if you pay a trillion dollars, $1 trillion to American companies, (spreading) the purchase over a four-year period, of a trillion dollars,” he said, referring to the duration of his presidency.

“They’ve agreed to do that, so I’m going to be going there.”

Trump, who has yet to travel overseas since returning to the White House, made Saudi Arabia his first foreign destination after he took office in 2017.

He said recently that he decided to visit Saudi Arabia rather than Britain on his first trip in 2017 because the Arab kingdom promised to buy $450 billion worth of US products.

Trump has forged close business ties with Saudi Arabia, with the Trump Organization in December announcing a Trump Tower in Jeddah.

In his last term, Trump boasted of shielding Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman from consequences over the killing of US-based Saudi dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, with the president citing the importance of Saudi purchases of US weapons.

Former president Joe Biden initially vowed to make the crown prince a “pariah” due to human rights but his administration later courted Saudi Arabia, including with a draft defense agreement, as it sought to encourage it to recognize Israel.

The Trump administration has vowed to move full-speed with trying to persuade Saudi Arabia to normalize with Israel, in what would be a landmark step as the kingdom is home to Islam’s two holiest sites.
 

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