HE SAUD A LIKES IT HERE
Trump inks $110B deal on first stop
PRESIDENT TRUMP’S first foreign trip began on Saturday in Saudi Arabia with pomp, pageantry and a $110 billion arms deal.
As controversies continue to swirl around the White House at home, Trump made the most of his initial day in the Middle Eastern kingdom by inking an agreement with the country to buy military equipment from the U.S.
The Trump administration has been working to finalize the deal over the past several months.
The accord includes military sales to Saudi Arabia worth $110 billion immediately and $350 billion in total over the next decade.
The package includes tanks, combat ships, missile defense systems, radar and communications, and cybersecurity technology.
At the same time, private equity firm Blackstone and Saudi’s largest sovereign wealth fund announced a $40 billion investment in U.S. infrastructure projects.
Other private sector deals were announced as well, including Lockheed Martin signing a $6 billion letter of intent to assemble 150 Black Hawk helicopters in Saudi Arabia, and General Electric announcing a series of projects valued at $15 billion. Trump said the day, spent bouncing between meetings and ceremonies in Riyadh, had been “tremendous.” “That was a tremendous day, tremendous investments in the United States,” he said during a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef. Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir (inset) said the alliance and the military deal will help “drain the swamp” of extremism.
“If we can change the conversation in the Islamic world from enmity toward the U.S. to partnership with the U.S . . . . we will have drained the swamp from which extremism and terrorism emanates,” he said at a joint press conference alongside Secretary of State Tillerson.
Earlier, Trump arrived on an overnight flight and met with the nation’s monarch, King Salman.
The 81-year-old royal presented Trump with a gilded necklace and medal, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
Video of the ceremony shows
Trump, who once admonished former President Barack Obama for bowing to a Saudi ruler, appearing to curtsy after the medallion is placed around his neck.
Trump is viewed as a positive change in the kingdom in the wake of his predecessor, who was disliked in Saudi Arabia for brokering the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal.
His popularity in the conservative Muslim nation comes even though Trump was a harsh critic of the country prior to taking office.
Trump once slammed the Saudi government for wanting “women as slaves and to kill gays,” repeatedly accused the country of being behind the 9/11 attacks and called for an economic boycott if the kingdom failed to reimburse the U.S. for its military support.
But Trump received a lavish welcome with fighter jet flyovers, a cavalry accompaniment and a regal red carpet.
Billboards featuring images of Trump and the king dotted the highways of the capital Riyadh.
First Lady Melania Trump wore a black pantsuit with a golden belt and did not cover her head, a custom that her husband once criticized former First Lady Michelle Obama for not following.
The luxury hotel where the President was staying was bathed in red, white and blue lights and, occasionally, an image of his face.
Trump briefly joined the king in a traditional male-only sword dance before a state dinner Saturday evening. Swaying side to side, the President smirked and bopped along to the dance, accompanied by chief strategist Steve Bannon, chief of staff Reince Priebus and chief economic adviser Gary Cohn.
The menu for the dinner included local cuisine with lamb and rice, along with steak and ketchup for Trump.
The warm welcome stood in stark contrast to the barrage of bad news that ensnarled Washington as Trump took off on his nine-day trip on Friday.
An ever-widening federal probe into possible ties between Trump associates and Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election and his firing of FBI director James Comey besieged the Trump administration.
Trump is set to visit Jerusalem, Bethlehem, the Vatican, Brussels and Sicily.