Trump’s trillion-dollar Saudi deal could reshape markets — if the money ever materializes
President Donald Trump loves a deal and few partners have proven more willing or more powerful than Saudi Arabia.This week, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pledged to channel...
By Fox News · Fox News
President Donald Trump loves a deal and few partners have proven more willing or more powerful than Saudi Arabia. This week, Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pledged to channel $1 trillion in investments from the oil-rich kingdom into the U.S. Trump embraced the announcement as validation of his close ties with Riyadh and proof that international money is eager to flow back into the U.S. economy. Yet beneath the impressive headline figure lies a familiar reality: much of the promised investment exists only on paper, and experts caution that the actual cash flow could take years to materialize. "The term investment implies long-term capital, but in this case it really means purchases like aircraft, tanks, even computer chips," said Simon Henderson, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "And those figures, $600 billion, a trillion, who really knows how accurate they are, or over what time frame?" SAUDI ARABIA IS ALREADY AMERICA’S TOP ARMS BUYER AND NOW TRUMP WANTS TO ADD F-35S "Perhaps the real story is that Saudi finances are in bad shape," added Henderson, who specializes in the Gulf region and energy policy. "Oil prices are too low, they need about $100 a barrel, and extravagant spending on prestige projects like The Line and NEOM are being scaled back." The Line is a proposed 105-mile car-free city and NEOM is a $500 billion futuristic mega-development on the Red Sea. Both are part of the crown prince's "Vision 2030" plan to diversify the kingdom’s economy beyond oil. Others note that Saudi Arabia’s short-term fiscal strains don’t necessarily preclude large-scale investments over time. "It’s perfectly within the realm of possibilities that Saudi Arabia could make a $1 trillion investment into the United States over many years," explained E.J. Antoni, chief economist at the Heritage Foundation, citing the kingdom’s vast oil wealth and long-term economic ambitions. Antoni noted that much depends on how such an investment u…