What will our relationship with Trump be like?

Even those who disagree with President Donald Trump acknowledge that the United States under his leadership has been witnessing, since day one, a revolution that is leading to important changes, even if he has not literally achieved everything he promised.

The important and different aspect this time is that Trump is not a person, but a broad movement. He enters the White House prepared and armed with his projects, his leadership of the administration, and a general popular mood that desires him and supports his proposals. With this momentum, it is a revolution that is different from the context of previous presidencies, and different even from his first presidency.

As for our region, we believe that we have come to know Trump well, and he will be a positive player according to his announced program. He has a desire to achieve Palestinian-Arab-Israeli peace. He wants to resolve the Iranian problem through one of two options: reconciliation and halting nuclear activity, or confrontation. He also announced that he wants to address the Syrian issue, including the Turkish military role in it. He will support “Iraqi sovereignty,” which means ending the militias affiliated with Iran, so that he can withdraw the remaining American forces.

In Yemen, he made the Houthis his first victims, returning them to the terrorist list, thus adopting an opposite policy. His predecessor Biden threatened the Houthi militia with placing them on the terrorist list if they did not stop the attacks, and they did not, and he did not put them on. While Trump told them to stop if they wanted their name removed from the terrorist list.

Because Saudi Arabia had maintained a special relationship with him during his previous presidency, he chose to begin his first phone call with world leaders with the Saudi Crown Prince, announcing that he intended to repeat his visit.

He said: Saudi Arabia will be the first country to open his foreign visits and will include economic agreements worth six hundred billion dollars. On this point in particular, most visits, other than emergency visits, have economic dimensions. When Trump speaks, he addresses his audience in the language of the market, profit and loss. Let us remember that economic dealings with the United States are the gain. The danger is when you are placed on the list of those prohibited from trading with it.

Last month, in response to the criticism, China’s Foreign Ministry said that economic cooperation with the United States benefits both sides. China has about $700 billion in investments in the United States.

In his first presidency, Trump visited Riyadh after the Crown Prince launched his giant project, “Vision 2030.” Agreements were reached on major projects, but some of them did not happen, either as a result of restrictions by American lawmakers at the time or for other considerations, and their size was ultimately less than the announced ambitions. Most of the promises of contracts were fulfilled in long installments, sometimes ten years. A large part of them are investments with profitable returns.

The relationship between Riyadh and Washington is always strategic, not circumstantial. This was demonstrated by former US President Joe Biden, who, even without oil, trade deals, or even a personal relationship, offered Saudi Arabia strategic cooperation and proposed a defense agreement. With Trump, the relationship is likely to be closer and warmer, especially since the Saudi Crown Prince invested in the relationship with him and found him to be a good ally.

There is the great project for the benefit of the region, which cannot be measured in dollars, and which investments will not make us forget; it is the desire to achieve regional peace, and the pursuit of a two-state solution by establishing a Palestinian state.

Trump is an exceptional personality with big dreams and a tremendous determination. Let's look at what he did on his first day in the White House. The likes of him have never been seen before. He will be welcomed with open arms. It is important for us to stand by this historic man and win him over to our side.

*Quoted from Asharq Al-Awsat