US-Saudi sign more than $110B arms deal amid Trump visit
On the first stop of his inaugural foreign trip, US President Donald Trump signed his name Saturday to a nearly $110 billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia effective immediately - plus another $350 billion over the next 10 years, reports NBC News.
The White House trumpeted the agreement as a "significant expansion" of the two nation`s "security relationship" that includes promises for future defense capabilities to support Saudi Arabian defense needs.
The deal - which was already anticipated as a tangible outcome of the trip - includes a "letter of intent" to assemble 150 Lockheed Martin Blackhawk helicopters to the tune of $6 billion.
A White House official said the package demonstrates "the United States` commitment to our partnership with Saudi Arabia and our Gulf partners, while also expanding opportunities for American companies in the region, and supporting tens of thousands of new jobs in the U.S. defense industrial base."
The defense cooperation agreement included the above letter of intent, as well as eight letters of acceptance and a joint vision statement, White House Principle Deputy Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders outlined.
Jared Kushner, the president`s son-in-law and senior adviser in the administration, reportedly took a hands-on approach early on in the arms deal negotiations, calling Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson to see if anything could be done about the price of a sophisticated radar system. She told him she`d look into it, according to a New York Times account.
The arms announcement comes amid new private sector agreements after U.S. and Saudi Arabian companies gathered Tuesday for a Saudi-U.S. CEO Forum here.
A statement released by the 2017 Riyahd Summit applauded other agreements with GE and Dow Chemical as achieving "the goal of creating jobs and driving economic diversification" and providing jobs in the country, "cementing partnerships for generations to come."
GE, the U.S. technology and engineering giant, also said Saturday it had signed $15 billion worth of business deals with Saudi Arabia.
President Trump arrived in the kingdom on Saturday morning, greeted by Saudi King Salman on a red-carpeted tarmac.
The trip, which marks Trump`s first overseas venture since becoming president, comes as the leader of the free world faces political blowback at home for his firing of former FBI Director James Comey and Washington reels from the appointment of a special counsel by the Department of Justice to investigate allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
Before departing on his trip, Trump said he believes the special counsel decision "hurts our country terribly because it shows we`re a divided, mixed-up, not-unified country."
