US President Donald Trump is reportedly seeking $1 trillion in investments from Saudi Arabia in an upcoming visit to the energy-rich Gulf Kingdom. This comes amid reports that normalization between Riyadh and Tel Aviv has effectively "been delinked" from economic and security talks with Washington.
Trump has departed Monday on a four-day visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, with the trip expected to center on securing business deals and attracting new investments from the oil-rich Gulf states. The president will not visit Israel.
Reuters reported Sunday that Saudi Arabia is unlikely to normalize relations with Israel at this time due to Israel's continuation of its war in Gaza and refusal to allow the establishment of a Palestinian state, according to US and Saudi officials. "Establishing ties has become especially toxic for Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, since the start of Israel's war in Gaza," Reuters wrote.
US officials have failed to convince their Israeli counterparts to agree to an immediate ceasefire in Gaza – one of Saudi Arabia's preconditions for any re-start of normalization talks, two Gulf sources and a US official stated. Instead, Israeli leaders have expressed their desire to continue the war, which has killed well over 60,000 Palestinians, in an effort to ethnically cleanse Gaza of Palestinians and prepare it for Jewish settlement.
The reports contradict the optimism expressed by Trump's envoy to the region, Steve Witkoff, who told an audience at the Israeli embassy in Washington this week that he expected important progress on expanding the Abraham Accords, an agreement through which other Arab states, the UAE, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco, normalized relations with Israel.
"We think we will have some or a lot of announcements very, very shortly, which we hope will yield progress by next year," Witkoff said in a video of his speech before accompanying Trump on his trip to the region that will not include a visit to Israel.
As a result, Saudi normalization with Israel has "effectively been delinked from economic and other security matters between Washington and the kingdom, Reuters wrote, citing two Saudi and two US officials, all of whom requested to remain anonymous.
As a result, Trump's visit to the kingdom will focus on securing a trillion dollars' worth of Saudi investments in US companies, "including major deals in arms, mega-projects and artificial intelligence," Reuters wrote.
"The Trump administration wants this trip to be a big deal. That means lots of splashy deal announcements and collaborations that can be sold as being good for America," said Robert Mogielnicki, senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute, a think tank in Washington.
"Normalizing ties with Israel is a much heavier lift than rolling out the red carpet for President Trump and announcing investment deals," he said. The Saudi government communications office did not reply to a request for comment, Reuters added.
In a related matter, an informed source told Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds on Sunday that the meeting between President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) in Riyadh on Tuesday will also include Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
The source, who declined to be identified, said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman submitted the proposal, which received Trump's approval.
The source confirmed that MbS is looking forward to Trump's acceptance of the Saudi condition for the establishment of a Palestinian state, noting that achieving this would constitute one of the greatest and most important achievements of Saudi Arabia's active diplomacy.
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