Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East in 2025 kicked off with Saudi Arabia, and honestly, it feels like a big deal. This isn’t just some routine trip—there’s a lot riding on it, from huge economic deals to new tech projects and even faith-based initiatives. The whole visit seems aimed at making the US and Saudi Arabia work closer together on business, defense, and technology.
When Trump arrived in Riyadh, he got a pretty formal welcome from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Right away, they started talking about a massive investment plan worth around $1 trillion. Yeah, that’s trillion with a “T.” The goal is to pump money into both countries’ economies. Elon Musk was even there, which shows this trip is heavy on business and innovation.
One big highlight is a defense deal that could top $100 billion. That’s a sign the US and Saudi Arabia want to team up more on military stuff for the long haul. At the same time, Saudi Arabia announced it’s going to increase oil production for a bit, which helps stabilize oil prices worldwide. It’s also a way for them to balance things inside their country as they push economic changes.
AI Innovation and Religious Tourism Get a Boost
One of the more exciting parts of the visit was Saudi Arabia introducing a new AI startup called Humain. This project is part of their Vision 2030 plan, which is all about moving away from oil and into tech and digital business. The idea is to build a large Arabic language AI model tailored to the region, and they want to work with big American tech companies to make it happen. This could be a real game-changer for tech in the Middle East.
Alongside all this, Saudi Arabia also announced the official dates for the Umrah pilgrimage visa for 2025. People can start applying on June 10, and the pilgrimage kicks off on June 11. To make the whole process smoother, they launched two new digital platforms—Nusuk and Umrah Path—that make applying and managing the pilgrimage easier. This fits with their bigger plan to boost religious tourism and bring more people to Saudi Arabia in a modern, tech-friendly way.
Challenges Still Loom in the Region
Even though the visit looks promising, there are some tough issues in the background. One big sticking point is the paused talks about Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with Israel. Because of the ongoing Gaza conflict, Saudi Arabia isn’t ready to move forward unless there’s real progress on the Palestine situation, especially a two-state solution. So while Trump’s visit grabbed a lot of headlines, it’s clear that real peace will need more work and patience.
In short, this trip isn’t just for show. It’s about setting up serious deals and partnerships that could shape the US-Saudi relationship for years, from trade and defense to tech and religion. Whether all these plans will pan out is something we’ll have to watch closely.
