Trump Is Taking The US-Saudi Relationship To The Next Level
March 27, 2017
Despite his tough campaign rhetoric, President Donald Trump has opted for a policy of appeasement to Saudi Arabia – including a $200 billion investment into the Saudi economy amidst sweeping cuts to U.S. foreign aid.
WASHINGTON, DC – One of the major tenets of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign was his promise to bring about “complete American energy independence,” a promise that won him the unwavering support of the U.S. fossil fuel industry and several key endorsements. After his election, Trump appeared to remain committed to this pledge, vowing last November to block all oil imports from Saudi Arabia in order to secure domestic energy independence from “our foes and the oil cartels.”
But Saudi Arabia, as fate would have it, did not stay on Trump’s list of “foes” for very long. Trump’s first meeting last week with a member of the Saudi royal family – Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman – marked a “historic turning point,” not only for Trump’s own policies regarding the Gulf monarchy, but for U.S.-Saudi relations as a whole, according to a statement issued by the Saudis after the meeting.
The statement, issued by the deputy crown prince’s senior adviser, added that U.S.-Saudi relations during the Obama era “had undergone a period of difference of opinion.”
