By David Shepardson WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Saudi and U.S. officials touted billions of dollars in new investments and growing financial ties between the two countries on Wednesday, coinciding with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington. The CEOs from Chevron, Qualcomm, Cisco, General Dynamics and Pfizer are attending the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum at […]
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US, Saudi tout new business deals at investment forum
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By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Saudi and U.S. officials touted billions of dollars in new investments and growing financial ties between the two countries on Wednesday, coinciding with Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Washington.
The CEOs from Chevron, Qualcomm, Cisco, General Dynamics and Pfizer are attending the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum at the Kennedy Center in Washington, according to the event’s program, as well as senior executives from IBM, Alphabet’s Google, Salesforce, Andreessen Horowitz, Boeing, Halliburton, Adobe, Aramco, State Street and Parsons Corp.
Trump said $270 billion in agreements and sales are being signed between dozens of companies on Wednesday. Bin Salman also touted the investment agreements both were signing.
“The agreements finalized yesterday open the door for U.S. companies to lead globally (in) innovation, in safety and in deployment,” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said.
Sitting next to Trump in the White House, bin Salman on Tuesday promised to increase his country’s U.S. investment to $1 trillion from a $600 billion pledge he made when Trump visited Saudi Arabia in May. But he offered no details or timetable.
Trump said he pushed him to go higher. “Could you make it $1.5 trillion?” he asked.
Bin Salman rubbed shoulders with many of Corporate America’s most powerful executives at the event on Wednesday, a day after President Donald Trump reintroduced him to official Washington with a glowing endorsement from the White House.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang talked about the future of AI. Musk predicted work will be optional in 10 or 20 years, while Huang said he thought AI would change the future of employment.
It is the first trip by bin Salman to the U.S. since the 2018 killing of Saudi critic Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents in Istanbul, which caused a global uproar. U.S. intelligence concluded bin Salman approved the capture or killing of Khashoggi, a prominent critic.
The crown prince denied ordering the operation but acknowledged responsibility as the kingdom’s de facto ruler.
A $1 trillion investment in the U.S. 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 and faced delays, and stadiums for the 2034 World Cup.
Trump will attend the investment forum event.
The president himself could benefit from closer business ties with Saudi Arabia. He and several of his confidants have forged business deals with Saudi partners in real estate and other investments.
But on Tuesday, Trump sought to distance himself from any suggestion of a conflict of interest. “I have nothing to do with the family business,” he told reporters, adding “they’ve done very little with Saudi Arabia actually.”
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Writing by Chris Sanders; Editing by Lincoln Feast, Franklin Paul and Chris Reese)