Trump Announces $142 Billion Arms Deal with Saudi Arabia

13 May 2025, 11:30 by Callum Sutherland · TIME

The U.S. has agreed to sell Saudi Arabia an arms package worth nearly $142 billion, the White House announced Tuesday, as President Donald Trump kicked off his Middle East trip in Riyadh.

Described by the Trump administration as "the largest defense cooperation agreement" in history, the package includes deals with more than a dozen American defense companies in sectors including air and missile defense.

"The deals celebrated today are historic and transformative for both countries and represent a new golden era of partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia," the White House said in a statement.

A partnership between Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior and the FBI has also been included in the agreements.

Trump also delivered a speech on Tuesday in which he announced he was lifting U.S. sanctions on Syria in support of "a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace.” He also said he would meet on Wednesday with Syria's new President, Ahmed al-Shara, while in Saudi Arabia.

Early on Tuesday, Trump attended a VIP lunch at the lavish Saudi Royal Court alongside other high-profile guests including Elon Musk, the Tesla CEO who is leading the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

The attendance by Musk, who previously said he would significantly reduce the amount of time spent on DOGE from May, suggests he is continuing to play a prominent role in the Trump Administration.

Other key U.S. business figures including Blackstone Group CEO Stephen Schwarzman, and BlackRock CEO Larry Fink were also in attendance.

Trump is expected to attend a dinner with Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, later on Tuesday.

Elizabeth Dent, a senior fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank, told TIME that there is a possibility the world leaders could announce "a civil-nuclear deal between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, which was long tied to the possibility of Saudi-Israel normalization but has recently been decoupled."

Musk still appears to be a prominent figure in the Trump Administration Brendan Smialowski—AFP/Getty Images

Read More: Why Trump and the Saudis Are Cozying Up

Experts including Dent have described the potential deals as a boon to Saudi plans to diversify its economy away from oil under its Saudi Vision 2030 initiative.

While in Saudi Arabia, Trump is expected to attend a Gulf Cooperation Council Summit, where more diplomatic issues will be discussed, including working toward an end to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, plus talks on a possible nuclear deal with Iran.

Lingering over such discussions will be Trump's decision to skip visiting Israel during such a high-profile trip to the region, says Elliott Abram, a senior fellow at the Council for Foreign Relations. "The country left out of this picture is Israel," Abram says. "While Trump had a close relationship with Israel in his first term, his transactional approach is leading him to negotiate with Iran, with the Houthis, and now with the Gulf countries without any attention to Israeli concerns."

Later in the week, Trump will visit Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to discuss other diplomatic and investment deals. This week, the President said he plans to accept a luxury jet as a gift from Qatar, a move that has raised pushback from lawmakers in both parties amid the legal and constitutional concerns.

Trump’s first overseas trip in his previous term was to the Middle East. He planned to make his second term the same way, but ended up traveling to Rome last month to attend the funeral of Pope Francis.

In May 2017, Trump attended the Arab-Islamic-American summit in Riyadh, where regional leaders came together to discuss security and terrorism issues. Just like his current trip, Trump announced new investments between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia during that visit.