WASHINGTON – Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will visit the White House on November 18 for an official working meeting with United States President Donald Trump, a White House official said on Monday.
The visit is expected to focus on expanding the Abraham Accords and strengthening defence cooperation between the two nations. Trump has been pressing Saudi Arabia to join the accords, which were initiated during his 2020 presidency and led to the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco normalising ties with Israel.
Read More: Saudi crown prince MBS to skip Canada’s G7 summit
So far, Riyadh has been reluctant to formally join the pact, citing the lack of progress on Palestinian statehood. However, Trump told CBS’ 60 Minutes in an interview broadcast on Sunday that he believed Saudi Arabia would “ultimately join the accords.”
The US president has repeatedly expressed optimism about an expansion of the Abraham Accords and said in August that more Middle Eastern countries were likely to follow.
According to the Financial Times, the two leaders may also discuss a potential US-Saudi defence agreement. A senior Trump administration official told Reuters that discussions about signing an agreement during the crown prince’s visit were “in flux.”
Read More: Saudi Arabia: a year of change with a new crown prince
Saudi Arabia has reportedly sought formal US security guarantees and access to advanced American weaponry as part of the broader talks. The kingdom remains one of the largest buyers of US arms, with relations traditionally rooted in an oil-for-security partnership.
During Trump’s visit to Riyadh in May, Washington agreed to an arms deal worth nearly $142 billion, while the Saudi crown prince pledged $600 billion in investments — prompting Trump to jokingly suggest increasing it to $1 trillion.