President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman signed a series of diplomatic agreements on Tuesday, including the future sale of F-35 stealth fighter jets to the Gulf State.
In an official statement, the White House said Saudi Arabia had increased its investments in the US to $1 trillion, up from the $600 billion it had promised during Trump’s May visit.
The crown prince did not provide a timeline for the investment or any details on what it would include.
In addition to the future delivery of F-35 jets, the pair agreed that Saudi Arabia would buy 300 US-made tanks.
"We're taking our military cooperation to even greater heights by formally designating Saudi Arabia as a major, non-NATO ally, which is something that is very important to them," Trump said at a dinner with the Saudi Crown Prince.
The two sides also signed a Strategic Defense Agreement, which "fortifies deterrence across the Middle East," the White House said. It provided few details of the agreement, which appeared to fall short of the congressionally ratified NATO-style treaty Saudi Arabia initially sought from Trump.
Notably, $1 trillion investment in the US would be difficult for Saudi Arabia to pull together, given its heavy spending on an already ambitious series of massive projects at home, including futuristic megacities that have gone over budget.
The two countries also signed a joint declaration on the completion of negotiations on civil nuclear energy cooperation, which the White House said would build the legal foundation for a long-term nuclear energy partnership.
Bin Salman has been seeking a deal to unlock access to US nuclear technology and help Saudi Arabia level up with the UAE and traditional regional foe Iran. But progress on such a nuclear pact has been difficult because the Saudis have resisted a US stipulation that would rule out enriching uranium or reprocessing spent fuel - both potential paths to a bomb.
Trump said earlier that he could see a deal on civilian nuclear power happening, but added, "It's not urgent."
Earlier, Trump said that the US would sell F-35 stealth fighter jets to Saudi Arabia in a similar arrangement it has with Israel.
"As far as I'm concerned, I think they are both at a level where they should get top of the line (F-35s)," Trump declared, referring to Saudi Arabia and Israel as great allies.
The sale of the stealth fighter jets to the kingdom, which has requested to buy 48 of the advanced aircraft, would mark the first US sale of the aircraft to Riyadh, a significant policy shift. The deal could alter the military balance in the Middle East and test Washington's definition of maintaining what the US has termed Israel's "qualitative military edge." Until now, Israel has been the only country in the Middle East to have the F-35.
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