USA TODAY and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article. Pricing and availability subject to change.

'A fantastic guy:' Trump again welcomes Saudi Arabia's leader. Is that a problem?

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s first call with a foreign head of state since taking office was with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, a country with which Trump and his family have significant current – and pending − business interests.

The two leaders discussed efforts to bring stability to the Middle East, bolster regional security and combat terrorism and economic development. They also talked about Saudi Arabia’s “international economic ambitions over the next four years as well as trade and other opportunities to increase the mutual prosperity” of the United States and the oil-rich kingdom.

That’s according to a White House readout of the call, which occurred Wednesday, Trump’s second full day in office.

Left unmentioned in the very short official announcement was whether Trump and bin Salman discussed the Trump family’s business ventures in Saudi Arabia − including real estate worth potentially billions of dollars – or their mutual interest in the Trump-backed, Saudi-funded LIV Golf tour.

OSAKA, JAPAN - JUNE 28: U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a family photo session at G20 summit on June 28, 2019 in Osaka, Japan. U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Osaka on Thursday for the annual Group of 20 gathering together with other world leaders who will use the two-day summit to discuss pressing economic, climate change, as well as geopolitical issues. The US-China trade war is expected to dominate the meetings in Osaka as President Trump and China's President Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet on Saturday in an attempt to resolve the ongoing the trade clashes between the world's two largest economies. (Photo by Kim Kyung-Hoon - Pool/Getty Images)

Watchdog groups contacted by USA TODAY said they’re concerned that the call suggests Trump may seek to exploit his vast new political power and influence to help the Trump Organization and its sprawling business empire.

ADVERTISEMENT

The White House, the Trump Organization and the Saudi embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment about whether Trump’s outreach to the Saudi leader could create the appearance of a potential for conflict of interest.

The Trump Organization – Trump’s main business vehicle for a global network of real estate and other projects – recently pledged that during Trump’s second term in office, “the Company will not enter into any new material transactions or contracts with a foreign government.”

But the new plan does not ban deals between the Trump Organization and foreign businesses, as had been the case in the first Trump administration.

A continuation of a longstanding relationship

Trump backers say Trump's first call to MBS, as the de-facto Saudi leader is known, is a continuation of the close relationship they had during Trump's first term. The former and now current president has openly praised the wealthy Saudi leader for his global geopolitical − and private business −ambitions.

ADVERTISEMENT

So has Trump's son-in-law and former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, who received $2 billion from Saudi Arabia for his new private investment firm soon after leaving office in 2021 and remains in close contact with bin Salman.

For his part, Trump says his rekindled political partnership with bin Salman clearly could prove to be a boon to the U.S. economy.

During Wednesday's call, the crown prince told Trump he would invest $600 billion in the U.S. over four years, according to a readout provided by the Saudi government. On Thursday, Trump said he would push for even more from bin Salman in virtual remarks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“I’ll be asking the crown prince, who’s a fantastic guy, to round it out to around $1 trillion,” Trump said by videocall. “I think they’ll do that because we’ve been very good to them.”

More: Trump raked in big money from foreign nations. Experts fear he'd do it more if re-elected

Oct 27, 2022; Miami, Florida, USA; CEO of Saudi golf Majed Al Surour hugs Donald Trump during the Pro-Am tournament before the LIV Golf series at Trump National Doral. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 27, 2022; Miami, Florida, USA; CEO of Saudi golf Majed Al Surour hugs Donald Trump during the Pro-Am tournament before the LIV Golf series at Trump National Doral. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Trump not the only president welcoming the Saudis − and the prince

Trump has cultivated personal relationships with many foreign leaders, including those in countries in which he has no business interests. And most other U.S. presidents have sought close ties with Saudi Arabia since oil was first discovered there in 1938 given its strategic importance to the U.S. and the region.

ADVERTISEMENT

During his first term, Trump visited Riyadh on his first foreign trip, upending a tradition of many recent U.S. presidents heading to key ally the United Kingdom as their first stop abroad. That May 2017 trip raised eyebrows among watchdog groups that said it underscored the Trump administration's ties to rulers of several oil-rich Gulf nations at the same time his Trump Organization pursued real estate deals across the region.

But the trip also signaled that Trump hoped to improve the politically tense U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia during the Obama administration, according to press reports at the time.

Washington's relationship with Saudi Arabia was mixed during the Biden administration, with President Joe Biden saying he wanted to make bin Salman and his royal family a "pariah" for the government's ambush killing and dismemberment of U.S.-Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. U.S. intelligence officials say MBS bin Salman personally approved the attack, which occurred at a Saudi consulate in Turkey in 2018.

In July 2022, Biden was criticized for visiting Saudi Arabia and giving MBS fist bump. Three months later, Salman publicly snubbed Biden in 2022 when the OPEC+ alliance of oil-exporting nations decided to cut oil production by 2 million barrels a day, raising U.S. gas prices.

In his Davos speech Thursday, Trump said he'd be asking Riyadh and OPEC, or the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, to bring down oil prices.

ADVERTISEMENT

"You got to bring it down, which, frankly, I'm surprised they didn't do before the election. That didn't show a lot of love by them not doing it," he said. "I was a little surprised by that. If the price came down, the Russia-Ukraine war would end immediately. Right now, the price is high enough that that war will continue. You got to bring down the oil price."

U.S. President Donald Trump makes a special address remotely as Ana Patricia Botin, chairwoman of the Spanish bank Santander, Brian Moynihan, CEO of Bank of America, Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of TotalEnergies, Stephen Schwarzman, CEO and Co-Founder of Blackstone Group and Borge Brende, President and CEO of World Economic Forum attend the 55th annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 23, 2025.

'Troubling' that Trump's first call was to Saudi crown prince

Noah Bookbinder, president of the nonprofit watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said it was “troubling that Donald Trump's first call to a foreign leader was to the leader of Saudi Arabia."

Projects by the Trump Organization could benefit significantly from friendly government officials in Riyadh, and the kingdom could benefit from Trump in return, Bookbinder and other watchdogs said, including more favorable foreign policy moves and lucrative weapons contracts.

Decisions made by these governments regarding Trump’s properties could be influenced by their desire to curry favor with the president, creating a perception - or reality - of undue influence, they say. And Trump may face pressure, consciously or unconsciously, they add, to prioritize the interests of countries where he has business investments over the broader national interest.

“In his first administration, Saudi Arabia brought significant business to Trump's properties, and Trump in turn made policy decisions that were beneficial to the country including seeming to look the other way on the Saudi government's killing” of Khashoggi.

More: 'My favorite president': Donald Trump and the art of rekindling world leader bromances

Trump told journalist Bob Woodward that he protected Saudi Arabia from consequences for Khashoggi's murder and blessed a $110 billion sale of U.S. weapons to Riyadh.

Doug Heye, a prominent Republican political strategist and former White House and Congress staffer, said Trump is smart to embrace the Saudi leader given its rising power on the global stage.

"I think it's a fact of life," Heye told USA TODAY on Friday. "Good or bad, we've seen a lot of people doing that. And Trump, being openly transactional, it's very easy to see why he's doing this."

Just because Trump may benefit personally from the relationship doesn't mean it could be good for America and its national interests as well, Heye said, noting Trump's claim to try to get an additional $400 billion from bin Salman, up from the $600 billion he pledged in upcoming Saudi investment in the U.S.

"Those two things go hand in glove with Trump," Heye said. "You can't separate them. They are two sides of the same coin."

Last July, CREW released a report saying that Trump earned up to $160 million in total from businesses in foreign countries while he was in office, much of it in dealings with Saudi Arabia. And a congressional oversight committee report in January 2024 said millions of dollars flowed to the Trump Organization from governments such as Saudi Arabia, China and the United Arab Emirates.

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 4: (L-R) Ranking member of the House Oversight Committee Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) speaks as Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) looks on during a media briefing concerning former President Donald Trump's business ties with foreign governments, on Capitol Hill January 4, 2024 in Washington, DC. The Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee released a report that alleges during Trump's presidency, his businesses received $7.8 million in payments from foreign governments including China, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. The report argues that the payments were in violation of the Constitution's foreign emoluments clause. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

This time around, Bookbinder told USA TODAY, Trump has even more business ties to Saudi Arabia, “with a Saudi-backed LIV golf tournament coming to one of his properties, a new real estate development in Saudi Arabia, and the involvement of Saudi companies in other developments, among others.”

Several of Trump's golf courses have hosted events for LIV, an alternative to the PGA Tour, including three in 2023 -- Trump National Golf Club, Washington D.C., Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. and Trump National Doral in Miami. Another LIV tournament is set for early April at Doral.

“That he then gave Saudi Arabia the honor of being the first country he reached out to suggests that all of these business investments in Trump may be paying off policy-wise for Saudi Arabia,” Bookbinder added.

Just a few weeks before Trump returned to the White House and its new ethics pledge went into effect, the Trump Organization announced it had leased its brand to two new real estate projects in Saudi Arabia. Eric Trump, who oversees the Trump Organization’s real estate interests said that project follows “the remarkable success” of a massive golf resort in neighboring Oman and other recent ventures in Dubai and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

"I have no interaction with Washington, D.C. I want no interaction with Washington, D.C.," Eric Trump said when asked about potential conflicts of interest.

A person close to Kushner told USA TODAY last July that he didn't violate any laws or ethics policies while in government, and that the Saudis invested $2 billion in his Affinity Partners investment fund because they trusted and respected him based on past dealings.

Still, Trump's call to MBS − and other actions like the pre-inauguration real estate deals − are a warning sign that Trump could “be leveraging the deals he had already forged,” Danielle Brian, executive director and president of the Washington-based Project on Government Oversight, told USA TODAY.

“I think it's worth noting that there isn't a meaningful distinction between government and business in Saudi Arabia," she said, when it comes to the Trump Organization doing projects there.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump's first call was with Saudi leader. Why watchdogs are concerned