According to a senior White House official, the crown prince’s day at the White House will start on Tuesday
with an entrance ceremony on the expansive South Lawn and a greeting on the
South Portico.
The official, who was
allowed obscurity to bandy the administration’s plans, stated that after a
bilateral discussion with Trump in the Oval Office, there will be a signing and
lunch in the Cabinet Room where the United States and Saudi Arabia would
confirm several defense and marketable deals.
First lady Melania Trump
will host and organize an East Room dinner at the White House later this
evening.
According to the official,
Prince Mohammed is not officially a head of state, thus his visit is described
as an official business visit.
Dozens of CEOs are
anticipated to attend a U.S.-Saudi Business
Council meeting on Wednesday at the Kennedy Center, a fine arts establishment
currently run by Trump supporters. The senior White House official stated that
the U.S. president is likely to attend the business gathering even though his
presence has not yet been confirmed.
In his second term, Trump
has made his relations with the Gulf countries one of his top foreign policy
priorities. Trump was greeted with a very uncommon Air Force One escort by
royal Saudi Air Force F-15s and a state supper at a UNESCO heritage site during
his first significant international tour of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and
Saudi Arabia.
“I really believe we like
each other a lot,”
Trump said as he met with Prince Mohammed in the royal palace in
Riyadh. Later, Trump described Prince Mohammed as an “incredible man” and “my
friend.”
Additionally, it is the
crown prince’s first visit to the US since Washington Post columnist Jamal
Khashoggi was killed in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018 during Trump’s
first term. According to U.S. intelligence services, Prince Mohammed most
certainly ordered the murder, which led to penalties on a number of Saudi
officials. Since then, both the Trump and Biden administrations have attempted
to restore relations with Saudi Arabia, despite his denial of any role.
How might the visit affect pending US Saudi defense agreements?
The visit of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the White
House is anticipated to significantly advance pending U.S.- Saudi defense
agreements. Conversations are ongoing to finalize a comprehensive defense pact
modeled after other strong U.S. security commitments, similar as the convention
with Japan.
The conventional honors punctuate the strategic significance of
Saudi Arabia to the United States and the close particular relationship between
President Donald Trump and MBS, indeed though the visit is officially
designated as a working visit rather than a state visit.
The sanctioned visit therefore provides an important political
platform where accelerated accommodations and conceivably formal signing of the
defense pact could do, solidifying the U.S.- Saudi alliance and enhancing
indigenous security cooperation.
