President Donald Trump has said he will ask the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to increase their planned investment in the United States to $1 trillion from $600 billion.
On Jan. 23, at a virtual appearance at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said he had seen reports earlier on Thursday about Saudi Arabia planning to invest more than $600 billion in the United States and would ask the Middle Eastern country’s leadership to “round it out about $1 trillion.”
“I think they'll do that because we’ve been very good to them,” Trump said.
On Jan. 23, the state-run Saudi Press Agency announced that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman intends to “broaden its investments and trade with the United States over the next four years, in the amount of $600 billion, and potentially beyond that.”
An official readout of the call published by the White House confirmed that Trump and Bin Salman spoke over the phone on Jan. 22. It said the conversation also touched on efforts to “bring stability to the Middle East, bolster regional security, and combat terrorism.”
In an interview with Bloomberg at the WEF meeting, Saudi Arabia’s finance minister, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, said the oil-rich nation already has active investments worth more than $770 million in the United States.
In the same interview, Al-Jadaan spoke about Saudi Arabia’s efforts to diversify its economy beyond energy.
During his address, Trump said he would also be asking Saudi Arabia and OPEC to bring down the cost of oil.
“You got to bring it down,” Trump said, “which, frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t do before the election. That didn’t show a lot of love.”
Trump went on to say that if the price of oil were lower, it would “immediately” end the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. Trump said OPEC and Saudi Arabia are “responsible to a certain extent” for the conflict.
According to data published by OPEC, Saudi Arabia exported about $248.4 billion worth of petroleum products in 2023. That accounted for about 67 percent of the value of its overall exports that year.
Saudi Arabia is not the leading source of oil imported into the United States, however. According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, in 2023, 52 percent of the oil imported into the United States came from Canada, and another 11 percent came from Mexico. Saudi Arabia only accounted for 5 percent of overall oil imports.
Saudi Arabia’s government maintains what it calls Vision 2030, “a blueprint that is diversifying the economy, empowering citizens, creating a vibrant environment for both local and international investors, and establishing Saudi Arabia as a global leader.”
In an annual report reflecting the country’s progress toward diversifying its economy and improving its international standing, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia said non-oil economic activity accounted for half of the country’s gross domestic product in 2023.
