When Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman steps onto the tarmac in Washington on November 19, 2025, he will be entering into more than just a diplomatic meeting with President Donald Trump. The summit, their second in just half a year, is a high-stakes encounter that captures a moment of profound transformation in the Middle East and in the relationship between two of its most influential players.
Official statements from both Riyadh and Washington point to cooperation in trade, investment, and energy. But, as reported by Arab News and other outlets, the true significance of this visit stretches far beyond economics. The meeting arrives at a time when the region is being reshaped by shifting alliances, evolving security challenges, and a U.S. administration that is rethinking many of its long-held assumptions about the Middle East.
It’s not just the frequency of these high-level meetings that’s notable—Trump’s visit to Riyadh in May 2025 was his first foreign trip of his new term, echoing the symbolism of his first-term travels—it’s the remarkable policy breakthroughs that have followed. According to Arab News, Saudi mediation played a pivotal role in a diplomatic thaw between the U.S. and Syria, a move few believed possible after years of conflict and sanctions. The U.S. not only lifted its long-standing sanctions on Damascus but also reopened its embassy there. In a historic first, Syrian President Ahmad Al-Sharaa visited the White House, marking an unprecedented entry for a Syrian leader into the Oval Office. Syria’s accession as the 90th member of the U.S.-led Global Coalition Against Daesh further underlined the scope of this realignment.
This shift did not come without controversy. Israel, a longtime opponent of U.S.-Syria normalization, voiced strong objections. Yet, the breakthrough paved the way for a broader recalibration in U.S. Middle East policy. Over the summer, the U.S. initially stood firmly behind Israel regarding Gaza, but by September, Trump had unveiled a Gaza peace plan that committed the U.S. to preventing any Israeli annexation of the West Bank. This dramatic pivot, operationalized at the Sharm El-Sheikh summit, brought Washington’s position closer to Saudi Arabia’s longstanding insistence on Palestinian statehood as a prerequisite for regional normalization.
Former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Michael Ratney, speaking on Frankly Speaking, described the evolving partnership: “The nature of our relationship can be as diverse as the Saudi economy is becoming.” He noted that the old oil-for-defense formula no longer defines the relationship. “I think once upon a time, oil and defense really dominated the relationship. And the big change was really Saudi’s decision to start diversifying its economy,” Ratney said. This shift began in earnest with the launch of Vision 2030 in April 2016, a Saudi strategy to transform the kingdom into a more balanced and resilient economy.
Since then, sectors once seen as “US brands”—artificial intelligence, renewable energy, and arts and culture—have become central to Saudi ambitions. “Look at where Saudi’s ambitions are, advanced technology, for example, and emerging tech and artificial intelligence,” Ratney explained. “It’s kind of a US brand, right? It’s where US industry has huge advantages and where there’s opportunities for partnership with Saudi Arabia that wants to invest and develop very, very quickly.”
Energy remains a key area, but the focus is shifting. Saudi Arabia, while still one of the world’s largest oil producers, is also investing heavily in renewables—wind, solar, and potentially nuclear power. As Ratney pointed out, “People don’t realize Saudi Arabia, one of the largest oil producers in the world, is also one of the largest investors in renewable energy.” This creates new opportunities for cooperation, particularly as both nations seek to balance the energy transition with the need for stability in global markets.
The cultural sector, too, is blooming. Riyadh has hosted international comedy festivals and music concerts, drawing crowds that would have been unimaginable a decade ago. Ratney, who attended some of these events, dismissed claims that they are mere PR stunts: “You’re surrounded by Saudis who are just overjoyed with the experience. And for some reason, people overseas, particularly in the West, I know the United States in particular, looked at them and assumed that the Saudis must be doing this in order to satisfy foreign public opinion.” He called such views “somewhat patronizing,” adding, “They cared about having fun, living a normal life.”
On the economic front, Saudi investment in the U.S. is soaring. The U.S. Treasury estimated Saudi holdings at around $350 billion in 2024, with other assessments pushing that number closer to $490 billion. The Saudi Public Investment Fund was especially active, holding $27 billion in U.S. equities in 2024 and $52 billion in Saudi investor equity trades in just the second quarter of 2025. Meanwhile, U.S. investment in Saudi Arabia, though smaller, reached $54 billion in 2023. Trump’s announcement of a Saudi plan to invest $600 billion in the U.S. across energy, defense, technology, and critical minerals could push total two-way investment beyond the trillion-dollar mark. The upcoming Saudi-U.S. investment summit in Washington is expected to finalize many of these commitments.
Yet, for all this investment, bilateral trade in goods remains modest—just $26 billion last year, about one-fourth the volume of Saudi-China trade. Persistent U.S. tariffs on Saudi exports, including a 15 percent levy on top of an existing 25 percent on steel and aluminum, have stifled growth. Despite a U.S. trade surplus of $443 million with Saudi Arabia, these tariffs remain in place, and without reform, trade is likely to lag behind investment.
Security, however, will dominate the November summit. Saudi Arabia has floated a “grand bargain” for regional stability: full normalization and integration in exchange for adherence to international law, respect for the UN Charter, and the renunciation of force or proxy warfare. For Israel, this means accepting a sovereign Palestinian state along the 1967 borders. For Iran, it means compliance with non-proliferation and an end to support for armed militias. While a final security agreement may not be reached this week, both sides are expected to move closer to a framework that could reshape the region’s architecture for decades.
Ratney outlined three likely focus areas for the summit: a defense agreement to cement U.S.-Saudi military cooperation, agreements on emerging technology—especially AI and advanced chips—and civil nuclear cooperation. But normalization with Israel is off the table for now, as the Saudis have made clear they cannot proceed while Israeli forces remain in Gaza and there’s no clear path to Palestinian statehood.
Regional tensions remain high after the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023, and Israel’s subsequent operations in Gaza, which have killed at least 69,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities. Despite a U.S.-brokered ceasefire since October 10, sporadic Israeli strikes and inadequate aid flows persist. Saudi Arabia insists normalization with Israel will only come after a Palestinian state is established and the war in Gaza ends.
The summit also comes amid heightened security anxieties. Recent Israeli and Iranian strikes in Qatar have unsettled Gulf partners, pushing them to seek stronger, more predictable security guarantees from the U.S. As Ratney put it, “They want certitude, they want clarity. They want to know what expectations they should have with respect to the United States.”
As both nations look to the future, this summit may well mark the start of a new era in Saudi-U.S. relations—one built on diversification, mutual investment, and shared security interests, but also on the recognition that the Middle East’s new order will demand flexibility, pragmatism, and above all, a willingness to adapt to change.
