Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will make an official working visit to Washington on November 18 for talks with U.S. President Donald Trump, a White House official confirmed on Monday.
The meeting comes as the Trump administration intensifies efforts to persuade Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords, a series of normalization agreements between Israel and Arab states brokered under Trump’s first term in 2020.
So far, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco have signed on.
Riyadh has so far resisted joining the accords, insisting that progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state must precede any formal normalization with Israel.
However, Trump expressed optimism about Saudi participation during an interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes aired Sunday, saying he believed the kingdom would “ultimately join” the agreements.
In addition to regional diplomacy, the two leaders are expected to discuss defense cooperation. According to The Financial Times, both governments hope to finalize or advance negotiations on a U.S.-Saudi defense pact during the visit.
A senior Trump administration official told Reuters that “there are discussions about signing something when the crown prince comes, but details are in flux.”
Saudi Arabia has long sought stronger U.S. security guarantees and greater access to advanced American weaponry.
The kingdom remains one of the largest buyers of U.S. arms, underpinning a decades-long partnership built on oil exports and American military support.
During Trump’s visit to Riyadh in May, Washington agreed to sell Saudi Arabia a defense package valued at nearly $142 billion, one of the largest arms deals in U.S. history.
Bin Salman’s upcoming visit signals an effort by both sides to reinforce strategic ties at a time of shifting alliances in the Middle East and heightened interest in expanding the Abraham Accords.
Source: Reuters
Written By Rodney Mbua
