As Trump began his first foreign trip abroad as POTUS, a WH official noted the unconventional nature of his trip:
On Saturday, in a significant expansion of the over seven-decade long security relationship between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the President and Secretary Tillerson will attend a signing ceremony for almost $110 Billion worth of Foreign Military Sales cases via Letters of Offer and Acceptance and future defense capabilities under development listed in a Memorandum of Intent to support Saudi Arabia's defense needs.
This package of defense equipment and services support the long-term security of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region in the face of Iranian threats, while also bolstering the Kingdom's ability to contribute to counter terrorism operations across the region, reducing the burden on the U.S. military to conduct those operations.
This package demonstrates, in the clearest terms possible, the United States' commitment to our partnership with Saudi Arabia and our Gulf partners, while also expanding opportunities for American companies in the region, and supporting tens of thousands of new jobs in the U.S. defense industrial base.
