ZEALE NEWS FEED // In a major address this week at the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum 2025, President Donald Trump marked a turning point in US-Saudi relations, lauding the kingdom's transformation and reaffirming America's long-standing partnership with Saudi Arabia. He received a standing ovation at the end of the speech.
“With this historic state visit, we celebrate more than 80 years of close partnership between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Trump stated in the May 13 speech, referencing the 1945 USS Quincy meeting between President Franklin Roosevelt and King Abdul Aziz as the foundation of bilateral ties.
“Today, we reaffirm this important bond, and we take the next steps to make our relationship closer, stronger, and more powerful than ever before,” he added. “It is more powerful than ever before.”
Trump praised the sweeping domestic reforms and modernization efforts led by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud, calling the transformations “truly extraordinary.”
“The majestic skyscrapers, the towers that I see, the difference between now and eight years ago — and eight years ago was very impressive,” the president stated. “But the towers that I see rising, some of the exhibits that were shown by Mohammed, what I’ve seen there is just an amazing — it’s an amazing process, an amazing genius of so many people, architecture.”
Trump also noted that the kingdom’s development is not the result of Western intervention, but the hard work of Arabic people.
“No, the gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called nation-builders, neocons, or liberal nonprofits like those who spent trillions and trillions of dollars failing to develop Kabul, Baghdad, so many other cities,” he said. “Instead, the birth of a modern Middle East has been brought by the people of the region themselves, the people that are right here, the people that have lived here all their lives, developing your own sovereign countries, pursuing your own unique visions, and charting your own destinies in your own way.”
Trump concluded by calling for Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords, suggesting that the move would be very important for the Middle East’s future.
The address underscored a rekindled alliance and a strategic alignment between the two nations. As Trump put it simply: “We will work together. We will be together. We will succeed together. We will win together. And we will always be friends.”
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