May 14th, 2025
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On Tuesday, President Donald Trump started his trip to the Middle East. He met with the leader of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. They talked about stopping Iran from making nuclear weapons, ending the war in Gaza, and keeping oil prices low.
Prince Mohammed welcomed Trump when he got off the plane to start his visit to the Middle East.
After that, the two leaders went to a large room at the Riyadh airport. There, assistants wearing traditional belts offered Mr. Trump and his staff traditional Arabic coffee.
The show started before Trump arrived. Saudi planes flew next to his plane as it came near the capital city.
Trump and Prince Mohammed were going to have lunch at the Royal Court. Some important business people, like Stephen Schwarzman, Larry Fink, and Elon Musk, were also invited to the lunch.
Musk also leads a new group that tries to find and stop waste and bad things happening in the US government.
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Trump is visiting the Middle East because there are more problems there.
Saudi oil company Aramco made $26 billion in profit in the first three months of the year. This is a little less than they made last year.
Afterward, the prince will have a special dinner for Trump. Trump will also be at a U.S.-Saudi business meeting on Tuesday.
Saudi Investment Minister Khalid al-Falih said that when people from Saudi Arabia and America work together, good things often happen.
Saudi Arabia and other countries in OPEC+ helped President Trump by making more oil. Trump believed that cheap energy was important to make things cheaper for people in America and stop prices from rising. The president also said that lower oil prices would help the war in Ukraine finish faster.
But Saudi Arabia's economy needs oil very much. To pay for everything, the price of oil must be around $96 to $98 for one barrel. We don't know how long OPEC+, a group with Saudi Arabia as the main country, will produce a lot of oil. On Monday, one barrel of Brent crude oil cost $64.77.
Jon Alterman, an expert on the Middle East, said that lower oil prices make it harder for countries in the Gulf to try new business ideas, but it doesn't stop them completely.
Trump went to Saudi Arabia first because they promised to invest a lot in the U.S. But Trump went to Italy last month for the Pope's funeral. Riyadh was the first country he visited outside the U.S. when he was president.
The president is visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. His company, run by his two older sons, is building big real estate projects there. These include a tall building in Jeddah, a fancy hotel in Dubai, and a golf course with houses in Qatar.
Trump wants to show his way of working with other countries is good. But some people, the Democrats, say his actions, like the trade war and how he deals with the war in Ukraine, are making the US alone and hurting its friends.
People think he will announce agreements with three rich countries. These agreements will be about AI, working together more on energy, and maybe selling new weapons to Saudi Arabia. This month, the government said they might sell $3.5 billion of missiles for Saudi Arabia's fighter planes.
But when Trump came to the Middle East, his main friends there, Israel and Saudi Arabia, did not completely agree with his ideas.
Before the trip, Trump said the US would stop air attacks on Yemen's Houthis. He said the Houthis, who get help from Iran, promised to stop attacking ships on an important world trade path.
The government didn't tell Israel about the agreement before Trump announced it. This was another time Trump didn't tell Israel about his talks with their enemies.
In March, the US started talking with Hamas about the war in Gaza. But they didn't tell Israel's leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, until after the talks began. Also, Netanyahu only learned about the US talking with Iran about nuclear power when President Trump told him last month during a meeting.
"Israel will protect itself," Netanyahu said last week after Trump said the Houthis would stop fighting. "If others help us, like our American friends, that would be good."
William Wechsler said it is interesting that Trump decided not to go to Israel on his first trip to the Middle East.
Wechsler said the main point now is that the Gulf governments are better friends to President Trump than the current Israeli government.
Trump wants to try again to help Israel and Saudi Arabia become friends. They are two important countries in the Middle East. His plan, called the Abraham Accords, already helped Sudan, the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco become friends with Israel.
But Saudi Arabia wants the US to help keep it safe and to help with its plans for nuclear energy. It also wants progress for a Palestinian state. But it is difficult to see a Palestinian state happening now because of the war in Gaza.
Last week, Prince Mohammed met with Hussein Sheikh, who is the Vice President of Palestine, in Jeddah.
Hussain Abdul-Hussain said the Saudi prince seemed to tell Trump that Saudi Arabia wants to see progress for Palestinians before they can make a peace deal with Israel.
Abdul-Hussain said the Saudis are showing their plans. He said it's like they are saying, 'Don't ask us to be friendly about making things normal.'
May 14th, 2025
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