President Donald Trump was received like visiting royalty on Saturday by the royalty of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as his debut official foreign visit. And on his first day of the visit, Trump ensured that he prioritized the signing of his long awaited defense sales deal with the Saudi government.
This visit is a landmark for both countries as Donald Trump was the first and only US president to make Saudi Arabia his first foreign visit. Perhaps this might have been what led to Saudi government to present Trump with the highest honour for a foreign dignitary, the collar of Abdul Aziz Al Saud, named for the for the kingdom’s founder, which Salman hung on a thick gold chain around Trump’s neck.
Trump went with some senior members of his cabinet and a few of his family members and realtives viz-aviz the first lady, daughter Ivanka and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Trump adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and chief strategist Steve Bannon also were there.
Trump and Tillerson on the first day of his visit witnessed a signing ceremony for $110 billion in US defense sales to Saudi Arabia, which reaffirmed the deals initiated by the Obama administration. It was further reported that these two governments also plan to sign additional commitments most especially on counterterrorism efforts.
It obvious that the close meeting Trump had with the Saudi king was major focused on oil deals and their cooperative war against the Iranian and Syrian governments.
Report gathered sows that during the award ceremony, Salman was overheard telling Trump that “Syria too used to be one of the most advanced countries. We used to get our professors from Syria. They served our kingdom. Unfortunately, they too brought destruction to their own country. You could destroy a country in mere seconds, but it takes a lot of effort.”
It is believed that obvious that Trump would take a u-turn on his initial harsh anti-Islamic religion crusade most especially during his campaign period.
