Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – President Donald Trump made a splashy debut on the world stage Saturday, ushering in a new era in US-Saudi Arabian relations by signing a joint “strategic vision” that includes a $US110 billion in American arms sales and other new investments that the administration said would bring hundreds of thousands of jobs.
“It was a great day,” Trump said. He cited “tremendous investments in the United States … and jobs, jobs, jobs.”
While initial details were scant, the agreements signed included a US letter of intent to “support Saudi Arabia’s defense needs” with sales of a number of items – naval ships, tanks and other vehicles – that were the subject of agreements under earlier administrations, as well as some new items that had never passed the discussion stage, such as sophisticated THAAD missile defense systems.
Other items are intended to modernise Saudi Arabia’s cyber defence and modernise its airborne intelligence-gathering, and secure its borders.
Read the full article by Philip Rucker and Karen DeYoung at The Sydney Morning Herald.