The agenda reportedly includes security ties, weapons deals, trade and investment – and Trump’s ambition to have Saudi Arabia join the Abraham Accords.
US Prsident Donald Trump, left, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, right
Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) is set to meet United States President Donald Trump in his first trip to Washington in eight years.
The agenda for the MBS-Trump meeting reportedly includes US-Saudi security ties, weapons deals, trade and investment and Trump’s ambition to have Saudi Arabia join the Abraham Accords and normalise relations with Israel
The high-profile visit could shape Saudi-US ties and the region for years to come. Here’s all you need to know:
When is the meeting, and what’s the schedule?
The meeting will take place on November 18 in the US capital, Washington, DC.
Trump is reportedly pulling out all the stops to impress the crown prince, with a lavish welcome ceremony to greet him when he steps off the plane.
A sit-down meeting with Trump at the Oval Office tops the agenda, followed by a ceremony where agreements made between the two countries will be signed, and a formal luncheon.
MBS will also speak with members of Congress and American business tycoons who have been invited to the White House, likely at a black-tie dinner in the East Room of the White House on Tuesday evening.
INTERACTIVE Saudi Arabia trade US Bilateral trade timeline-1763403575
What is on MBS’s agenda during this visit?
Trade and investment, weapons deals, and defence cooperation, mainly.
Trump announced on Monday, a day before MBS’s arrival, that he would approve the sale of US F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, something the kingdom has long sought.
The multibillion-dollar deal is reportedly for up to 48 jets and would make Saudi Arabia the first Arab country to own the advanced weapon.
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What’s on the agenda as Saudi Arabia’s MBS meets Trump in the US?
The agenda reportedly includes security ties, weapons deals, trade and investment – and Trump’s ambition to have Saudi Arabia join the Abraham Accords.
US President Donald Trump, left, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman, right [AP Photo]
US President Donald Trump, left, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, right [AP Photo]
By Mat Nashed and Justin Salhani
Published On 18 Nov 2025
18 Nov 2025
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Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) is set to meet United States President Donald Trump in his first trip to Washington in eight years.
The agenda for the MBS-Trump meeting reportedly includes US-Saudi security ties, weapons deals, trade and investment and Trump’s ambition to have Saudi Arabia join the Abraham Accords and normalise relations with Israel.
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The high-profile visit could shape Saudi-US ties and the region for years to come. Here’s all you need to know:
When is the meeting, and what’s the schedule?
The meeting will take place on November 18 in the US capital, Washington, DC.
Trump is reportedly pulling out all the stops to impress the crown prince, with a lavish welcome ceremony to greet him when he steps off the plane.
A sit-down meeting with Trump at the Oval Office tops the agenda, followed by a ceremony where agreements made between the two countries will be signed, and a formal luncheon.
MBS will also speak with members of Congress and American business tycoons who have been invited to the White House, likely at a black-tie dinner in the East Room of the White House on Tuesday evening.
INTERACTIVE Saudi Arabia trade US Bilateral trade timeline-1763403575
What is on MBS’s agenda during this visit?
Trade and investment, weapons deals, and defence cooperation, mainly.
Trump announced on Monday, a day before MBS’s arrival, that he would approve the sale of US F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, something the kingdom has long sought.
The multibillion-dollar deal is reportedly for up to 48 jets and would make Saudi Arabia the first Arab country to own the advanced weapon.
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Saudi Arabia has hundreds of billions of dollars in investments in the US and is expected to announce more on this trip, likely in artificial intelligence and civilian nuclear energy.
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Bin Salman will likely be seeking security guarantees that Saudi Arabia feels the US has not adequately met, as Israel’s increasing regional aggression, with US support, has put the region on edge.
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What does Trump want to address?
Trump has prioritised Saudi investments in the US for years, so that is likely to be high on the agenda.
He also speaks often of wanting Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords, a series of Trump-brokered agreements that saw Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates normalise relations with Israel in 2020.
Saudi Arabia has maintained that it would not consider such a move until a credible path to a Palestinian state has been established.
On Monday night, a US-sponsored resolution passed in the United Nations Security Council that referred to conditions the Palestinian Authority had to fulfil, at the end of which “the conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian self-determination and statehood”.
INTERACTIVE Saudi trade US Bilateral trade-1763403573
What are Saudi-US ties like?
Saudi-US ties date back nearly a century and are mostly centred around oil and defence.
US company, Standard Oil of California – later part of Chevron – was the first international company granted exploration rights in Saudi Arabia in 1933, a year after Saudi Arabia’s independence, culminating in the establishment of the Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco).
In 1951, the Saudi-US Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement entered into force, outlining US military protection to Saudi Arabia in exchange for a reliable oil supply.
Between 1971 and 1972, Saudi Arabia’s arms purchases from the US increased from $14.8m to $459m, according to a 1977 report carried out by the US General Accounting Office.
The spike in weapons sales coincided with a boom in Saudi oil exports, from $655m in 1965 to $26.7bn in 1975, according to the Baker Institute at Rice University.
Saudi weapons purchases from the US have continued to rise, with a commitment this year to buy $142bn worth of arms and defence equipment.
The close relationship frayed during former US President Joe Biden’s administration, after the assassination of Saudi critic and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. MBS denied ordering the assassination but took responsibility as Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader.
But after Russia invaded Ukraine and fuel prices rose, Biden had an about-face, visiting Saudi Arabia and giving MBS a widely covered fist bump.
