President Trump greeted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
A royal welcome for the president in Saudi Arabia as Trump’s middle east trip kicks off.
While President Donald Trump is likely to nail down some deals with Saudi Arabia this week over arms sales and tech investments, it appears his desire to see the Gulf nation join the Abraham Accords will be a tougher sell.
Speaking at an investment forum in Riyadh on May 13, Trump expressed his hope that Saudi Arabia will soon join the Abraham Accords, a series of normalization agreements between Israel and Arab countries that were established during his first term in office.
“It will be a special day in the Middle East, with the whole world watching, when Saudi Arabia joins us, and you’ll be greatly honoring me and you’ll be greatly honoring all of those people that have fought so hard for the Middle East,” Trump said.
He’s in the kingdom as part of his first presidential visit to the Middle East since he began his second term, swinging through Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Trump said it was his “fervent hope” that Saudi Arabia would soon sign its own normalization agreement with Israel, adding, “But you’ll do it in your own time.”
What are the Abraham Accords?
Signed in 2020, the Abraham Accords establish normalized diplomatic relationships between Israel and the nations of Morocco, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Sudan. The nations’ decision to recognize Israel broke with years-long consensus among Arab nations that any formal relationship with Israel would only occur with the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The accords were spearheaded by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who was a senior advisor to the president at the time. It was touted as a road to peace among Israel and its neighbors, its name emphasizing the Abrahamic religions as a point of commonality instead of conflict.
The agreement asserts it aims to “promote interfaith and intercultural dialogue to advance a culture of peace among the three Abrahamic religions and all humanity,” through diplomacy, science, art, medicine and commerce. After Bahrain, Morocco, UAE and more recently, Sudan, signed the accords and established a relationship with Israel, most participating nations forged ahead with security, trade and tourism agreements.
The Trump administration and Abraham Accords brokers have long expressed interest in Saudi Arabia joining the agreement since 2020, and other proposed agreements to establish diplomatic ties between Riyadh and Israel have not progressed.
Contributing: Reuters.
Kathryn Palmer is a national trending news reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at [email protected] and on X @KathrynPlmr.