Trump claims victory on squishy Saudi investment promises
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios. Photo: Win McNamee/Getty Images
President Trump loves nothing more than flashy investment promises, and the Saudis on Monday obliged to the tune of $600 billion.
Why it matters: This is an optics win for a White House cognizant of America's rising economic anxieties, even if some of the money never flows.
Driving the news: The Saudis agreed to buy nearly $142 billion of military equipment and services from U.S. defense contractors, nearly double the Kingdom's entire 2025 defense budget.
- Saudi Arabia also agreed to purchase gas turbines from GE Vernova, planes from Boeing, and to invest in U.S. companies via new private equity funds.
- By the end of his trip to the Gulf, which includes stops in Qatar and the UAE, Trump is hoping to obtain more than $1 trillion worth of deals and economic commitments.
By the numbers: An itemized list provided by the White House doesn't come close to $600 billion.
- Instead, it works out to $282.8 billion — nearly 30% of which involves private-sector tech investments "in both countries." Some of those are from U.S. companies like Google and Oracle.
- The remainder seems to fall under the unenumerated umbrella of "many other deals," which may include Nvidia's new agreement to sell chips to Saudi Arabia.
- The White House declined to provide more granular information when contacted by Axios, but reiterated the headline number.
Reality check: Even if all $600 billion were accounted for, which it isn't, that doesn't necessarily mean there will be $600 billion of investment.
- Trump secured $450 billion via a similar Saudi pledge in 2017, but it didn't all materialize.
- The same goes for some other high-profile investment promises during Trump's first term, such as $10 billion from China's Foxconn to build a factory in Wisconsin. To date, less than $1 billion has been invested in that project.
Zoom out: Saudi Arabia also could be hampered by its own economic challenges, such as low oil prices and a growing budget deficit.
The bottom line: There's an old Arabic saying that there are no taxes on words.
- A corollary may be that there are no political penalties on vague investment promises.
