On May 13, Trump announced that Saudi Arabia has agreed to invest $600 billion in the United States.
Among the agreements secured is a nearly $142 billion defense sales deal, providing the kingdom with “state-of-the-art warfighting equipment and services from over a dozen U.S. defense firms,” the White House said.
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More than a dozen American defense companies were involved in the deal, “including air and missile defense, air force and space, maritime security and communications…”
Deals relating to several other sectors were made, such as energy, mining, and data. Saudi Arabia suggested that the total package could reach $1 trillion in the months to come.
The White House also announced commitments from Saudi digital infrastructure business DataVolt to pursue a $20 billion investment in artificial intelligence data centers in the U.S.
The total investment figure also includes a combined $80 billion in commitments from DataVolt, Google, Oracle, Salesforce, AMD and Uber to invest in both the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, according to the White House.
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Such dealings were made amid the presence of powerful business leaders, including Elon Musk, the leader of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and Tesla among other firms, OpenAI’s Sam Altman, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, and Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman. Trump also spoke to Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser.
Economists have noted the risk of Saudi Arabia potentially lacking the money to follow through with its pledged investments. Low oil prices (oil accounted for 62% of Saudi Arabia’s revenue in 2024) have already strained the kingdom’s finances, which are being spent on its ambitious Vision 2030 project.
Conflicts of Interest
Trump’s emphasis on Saudi-American ties can be traced to a conflict of interest. The kingdom’s Public Investment Fund sponsored the LIV Golf League, which was hosted at Trump’s National Doral Golf Club in Florida. It also invested $2 billion in Jared Kushner‘s private equity firm, Affinity Partners. This investment has been viewed by ethics experts as compensation for Trump’s son-in-law vouching for Saudi interests during his time spent in Trump’s first term as President.
The Trump Organization, even before Trump assumed office for a second time, announced a second Trump Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s second biggest city. Its current cost is $532 million. The hotel is being developed in coordination with Dar Global, headed by Dar Al Arkan. Trump Organization and Dar Global are developing two other projects in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital.
A report by the House of Representatives also found that Saudi Arabia was among the biggest out of 20 foreign government purchasers of Trump’s properties during his first term, which amounted to $8 million. Trump did not divest from the Trump Organization at the time of this writing nor during his first term.
