Prince weaponizing his kingdom’s oil wealth

For Saudi Arabia, a new version of chequebook diplomacy is taking shape.

The kingdom used to pursue a behind-the-scenes foreign policy, deploying its oil wealth as a carrot. Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman is ready to wield it like a stick.

That’s the implication of his shock move to penalize Canada for criticizing Saudi treatment of women activists. With diplomatic ties and new business deals frozen, and the managers of Saudi wealth funds under orders to sell Canadian holdings, the measures were unexpected and sweeping.

Washington and Ottawa were caught off guard. The escalation followed Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland’s call on

Aug. 2 for the release of rights activist Samar Badawi.

“It’s a message not only to Canada,” said Haizam Amirah-Fernandez, an analyst at the Elcano Royal Institute, a Madrid-based think tank. “The warning is: If such things happen, Saudi Arabia will impose an economic price.”

Prince Mohammed’s supporters say the oil-rich kingdom, one of the world’s largest buyers of weapons, is willing to take more aggressive actions because the soft diplomacy pursued under previous rulers yielded few results.

The prince has also been emboldened by his U.S. ties under President Donald Trump, who visited Riyadh on his first overseas trip and has lavished praise on the prince and his sweeping plans to cut the kingdom’s reliance on oil.

None of the Saudi moves against Canada would have happened if “Trump wasn’t at the White House,” AmirahFernandez said.