Public smiles, private problems as Saudi prince visits US
WASHINGTON, D. C.: Saudi Arabia’s crown prince received an effusive welcome on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) at the White House from US President Donald Trump, who hailed a “great friendship” with the kingdom—but made no public mention of the sticking points in the burgeoning alliance.
In front of the cameras, it was all backslapping, handshakes, smiles and warm words between Trump and the heir to the Saudi throne, Mohammed bin Salman, who was seeking to burnish his leadership credentials.
“It is an honor to have the crown prince of Saudi Arabia with us,” Trump said as the pair prepared to have lunch in the Cabinet Room.
“The relationship is probably the strongest it’s ever been—we understand each other.”
Prince Mohammed, 32, was House since he cemented his role as the kingdom’s de facto political leader, and as he pursues economic and social reforms long sought by the West.
Trump, touching on the sensitive shaking-out happening inside the kingdom, said “some tremendous things have happened since your last visit to the White House.”
“You were the crown prince, and now you are beyond the crown prince,” he said, before adding that he misses Mohammed’s father, King Salman, and hopes to see him soon.
Prince Mohammed’s reformist message and the promise of Saudi investment in the United States has endeared him to the neophyte US president—39 years his elder— and America’s own US President Donald Trump (right) shakes hands with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the Oval Office of the White House on Tuesday ( Wednesday in Manila) Washington, D.C.
political princeling Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
Trump and MBS—as he is known in Washington’s corridors of power— have seen eye-to-eye on concerns about Iran’s military activism, Middle East peace, relaxing Saudi Arabia’s deeply conservative laws and over their love for mega-investments.
“Saudi Arabia is a very wealthy nation and they are going to give the United States some of that wealth hopefully, in the form of jobs, in the form of the purchase of - where in the world,” Trump said.
Ripples in the pond
But an all-out PR campaign designed
to burnish the crown prince’s image, and declarations that “relations have never been better,” mask several problems that could spoil the honeymoon.
As Prince Mohammed arrived in Washington, word trickled out that Saudi Aramco— the kingdom’s energy behemoth— was cooling on the idea of a stock listing in New York, something for which Trump has publicly lobbied.
Trump ducked a question about the issue.
The news was accompanied by expressions of concern about a US law that exposes Saudi Arabia to legal action over the 9/11 attacks, which Riyadh would dearly like to
see removed.
“The Trump administration will not be able to offer the necessary guarantees on any changes to US law that would reassure Saudi Arabia and the IPO is simply too important to place in jeopardy,” said Ayham Kamel of the Eurasia Group consultancy.
Another point of friction is the war in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia backed Huthi rebels.
That devastating three- year ground for the prince, who is also the minister of defense, but it has been beset by allegations of atrocities against civilians, and strategic drift.