Trump arrives in Saudi Arabia, beginning the first international trip of his new term

Washington — President Trump arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, beginning a three-nation visit to the region and the first international trip of his second administration. Saudi Arabia is the first stop on a four-day trip to the Middle East for Mr. Trump. 

The president also visited Saudi Arabia before any other nation during his first term in the White House, bucking the tradition for U.S. presidents to make their first foreign trip to the United Kingdom.

“Last time I went to Saudi Arabia, they put up $450 million,” Mr. Trump told reporters in March, while pledging to make the visit again should there be another investment in American companies. In a call shortly after Mr. Trump took office in January, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman vowed to invest $600 billion in the U.S. over the next four years.

Saudi Arabia is of key diplomatic importance to the Trump White House, especially amid ongoing efforts to negotiate a deal with Iran over its nuclear program, and with the Israel-Hamas war still raging in Gaza. The Trump administration also held talks with Russia in the Saudi capital of Riyadh earlier this year on how to end the war in Ukraine.

But the visit is also expected to focus on business. Mr. Trump spoke at an investment conference in Miami in February sponsored by Saudi government entities, as the Trump Organization has sought to expand its real estate empire in Saudi Arabia, and the president to looks to strengthen ties with the Middle East partner.

Mr. Trump has also attracted some high-profile business leaders to Riyadh for a U.S.-Saudi investment summit on Tuesday. The speakers will include Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Palantir’s Alex Karp, Citigroup’s Jane Fraser, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Franklin Templeton Investments’s Jenny Johnson, Uber’s Dara Khosrowshahi, BDT & MSD Partners’ Dina Powell McCormick and Blackstone’s Steve Schwarzman, according to multiple sources familiar with the event. 

Meanwhile, the White House has touted the trip’s diplomatic opportunities.

“The president looks forward to embarking on his historic return to the Middle East, visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates next week, where he will focus on strengthening ties between our nations,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Friday. “Eight years ago, President Trump’s first trip was to this same region of the world, where he introduced his bold peace-through-strength foreign policy strategy.”

The Trump administration brokered a diplomatic breakthrough during his first term that normalized relations between Israel and a number of Arab states, known as the Abraham Accords. Eight years later, as the administration has made a goal of expanding the agreement, Leavitt said Mr. Trump is returning to the region to “re-emphasize his continued vision for a proud, prosperous and successful Middle East, where the United States and Middle Eastern nations are in cooperative relationships, and where extremism is defeated in place of commerce and cultural exchanges.”

“This trip ultimately highlights how we stand on the brink of the golden age for both America and the Middle East, united by a shared vision of stability, opportunity and mutual respect,” Leavitt added.  

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to accompany the president in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the State Department said, where they will “look to strengthen ties between the United States and Gulf partners.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will also join the president on the Middle East trip, a pentagon spokesperson said. And Mr. Trump is expected to visit with U.S. military personnel at the U.S. airbase in Qatar, Leavitt said.

Mr. Trump is not expected to visit Israel during the trip, in a change from his first term.

Meanwhile, the royal family of Qatar is donating a jumbo jet for President Trump’s exclusive use as a presidential plane, sources told CBS News. The plane will be donated to the future Trump presidential library shortly before he leaves office.

contributed to this report.