00:00I will say the crown prince came home with quite an extensive list of deliverables, the ability to buy F-35s, he got an AI deal, he got an upgraded security relationship this morning, some headlines coming through about forging a civil nuclear defense deal.
00:16Before we get into any of the details, would you characterize this trip as a success for the crown prince?
00:22I think it is undoubtedly a success for the crown prince and for Saudi Arabia.
00:29After all, Saudi Arabia was able to walk away with a significant number of achievements, some of which you've mentioned, most notably, I think, the approval for the sale of F-35s, the strategic defense agreement, an agreement on civil nuclear energy, an enhanced critical minerals partnership, an AI deal,
00:50and designation as major non-NATO ally status without really pledging to normalize relations with Israel, which had been a condition that was very much in place under the Biden administration.
01:05So I think they did manage to walk away with quite a bit.
01:08Now, there are obviously significant Saudi commitments in return.
01:11So there is the commitment to up Saudi investments into the U.S. economy from $600 billion to $1 trillion, even though that's open-ended and somewhat vague.
01:21And there is, of course, the additional Saudi commitment to finance and take on some of the costs of the U.S.'s military presence in the region as well.
01:32And we don't know to what tune that's going to be.
01:36So I think it is a significant win.
01:38There are a few questions that remain.
01:39There are certain things we don't know about what additional defense commitments, for example, this enhanced defense relationship imposes on the United States.
01:49We don't know how many chips the Saudis are going to get and how sophisticated they're going to be.
01:55We don't know exactly how the civil nuclear agreement resolves some of the longstanding differences as well.
02:01So there are still several unknowns.
02:04And I guess we'll have to wait a bit longer until we have the full picture.
02:07Yeah. Hassan, I want to unpack something that you mentioned, which is the fact that there were no political preconditions for some of the economic and defense deals that were forged over the last couple of days, i.e., even in the absence of Saudi formally committing to join the Abraham Accords, many of these deals went ahead.
02:28Does that mark a real shift in the way the U.S. administration is approaching Saudi Arabia?
02:34I think it does represent a shift.
02:36I think the ability to compartmentalize, to separate the bilateral dealings on geo-economic issues like civil nuclear energy, AI, critical minerals and the like from regional politics, I think is a very important accomplishment for the Saudis.
02:53And I think it aligns quite well with both sort of the U.S.'s America first approach and Saudi Arabia's similar Saudi Arabia first approach under both President Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
03:06So I think this aligns with their broader dispositions, and I think it's an important shift in approach that allows the two countries to move forward, I think, in a mutually beneficial manner without really holding themselves hostage to the policies of Israel's extreme right-wing government.
03:27What about this trip from the perspective of the Americans and for President Trump?
03:34It was very notable during the press conference, and I watched the press conference, that one of the reporters specifically asked about the killing of Khajoggi.
03:43She also spoke about the victims of the families of 9-11.
03:47You know, this is still very much a prevailing narrative in the U.S. right now.
03:51How has this trip gone down with the broader American public, and has it actually bolstered President Trump's public image, or is he likely to be criticized for it?
04:03Well, I think President Trump was very quick to brush off some of these concerns and criticisms, and this is his, I think, personal style across various points of criticism that he has faced throughout his presidential career.
04:19I think President Trump would instead like to focus on the additional jobs that Saudi investments are likely to create in the U.S. economy to brandish the fact that he has managed to convince the Saudis to increase their investment commitment by an extra $400 billion into the U.S. economy.
04:37And then there are actually tangible benefits that the U.S. gets from some of these agreements.
04:43So, for example, on critical minerals, the U.S. has been very keen on breaking China's chokehold on, for example, rare earth element supply chains, where China essentially dominates 90 percent of those.
04:57And as a result, the U.S. and Saudi Arabia have signed an agreement back in May for Saudi Arabia's national champion, Ma'adun, to partner with a U.S. company that is owned by the U.S. Department of Defense to essentially kickstart Saudi Arabia's exports of heavy rare earth elements to the United States.
05:20So, there is a real tangible benefit here in terms of U.S. raw material and U.S. critical mineral security.
05:29The same thing goes for nuclear cooperation.
05:32I mean, the Americans don't want to lose Saudi Arabia to the Chinese or to other competitors on nuclear energy.
05:39Same goes with technology.
05:40I mean, U.S. tech giants like NVIDIA need to be able to sell chips to raise revenues and maintain their lead on innovation and research and development.
05:49They need partners that are able to invest capital in expensive data centers and electricity and energy upgrades.
05:57And they need to partner with a country like Saudi Arabia or the UAE that is very well positioned to act as a platform to service emerging market economies in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
06:08So, I think this is a mutually beneficial arrangement.
06:11And I think President Trump is more likely to focus on the positives rather than spend most of his time dealing with criticisms.
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