In the Name of Prosperity: Saudi-U.S. Relations, Beyond the Transaction
- Amal Altwaijri
- May 23
- 8 min read
Updated: May 26
On May 13, President Donald Trump addressed the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh. Amid his familiar cadence, one line stood out: “Peace, prosperity, and progress… came not from a radical rejection of your heritage, but rather from embracing your national traditions.” He continued “You achieved a modern miracle the Arabian way."
With a cadence familiar to anyone who has followed his political career, Trump delivered a message that cut through the noise of his usual bombast, and beyond all the turbulence he represents in the American political landscape, those remarks struck a tone of rare cultural recognition that resonated deeply in the Saudi capital.
Trump, knowingly or not, tapped into a foundational truth often overlooked in the contemporary discourse: the Saudi-U.S. relationship, for all its contradictions, is rooted in a shared ideal—that governance should lead to prosperity.
But what is prosperity?
It is the condition in which individuals and societies enjoy sustained economic security, social well-being, and access to opportunity. It is not merely material wealth—it is the ability to live with dignity, stability, and the capacity to shape one’s future. Prosperity is not static; it is a continuous, multidimensional pursuit.
It is important to note that the pursuit of prosperity must be understood as something beyond elitism. It cannot remain the domain of technocrats, investors, or political elites alone. The endurance and integrity of such a pursuit flow not from capital alone, but from the trust and participation of the societies it seeks to serve.
Echoes of History
This idea, though cloaked in different idioms, has long animated the identities of both nations. For Americans, it is etched in the Declaration of Independence: “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” For King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud, founder of modern Saudi Arabia, it was the conviction that his people “shall enjoy prosperity far greater than our ancestors ever knew.”
In 1931, before oil shaped the geopolitics of the region, King Abdulaziz made a public appeal to locate underground aquifers. His call reached Charles Crane, a Chicago industrialist and philanthropist, who enlisted Karl Twitchell, a mining engineer from Vermont. Twitchell arrived with tools, not for drilling oil, but for finding water—a basic resource for a desert nation. The fact that this outreach preceded the 1933 oil concession to Standard Oil of California is telling. Abdulaziz’s first instinct was not to monetize the desert, but to humanize it.
Twitchell’s hydrological findings were modest, but they hinted at deeper potential. What followed would reshape the 20th century. The fact that it was an American team—not the British or French—that ultimately discovered oil where others had failed reflected more than just timing; it revealed a rising power that was technologically driven, commercially agile, and politically unencumbered—at least at that time.
When repeated drilling attempts at the Dammam Dome failed to produce commercial oil, most assumed the effort had run its course. But Max Steineke, an American geologist from Oregon , persisted. Against mounting pressure, he urged his team to dig deeper into the limestone formations—a gamble that led to the breakthrough at Well No. 7 in 1938. Steineke’s technical ingenuity, paired with the local expertise of Khamis Bin Rimthan—a Saudi Bedouin desert guide whose navigational knowledge was unmatched—became a quiet blueprint for how the American and Saudi partnership could thrive.
The true turning point, however, came in 1945, not through contracts, but in a conversation—aboard the USS Quincy. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, returning from Yalta and nearing the end of his life, met with King Abdulaziz. They spoke through translators and gestures, yet connected in ways words could not fully capture.
Though they discussed oil, security, and Palestine, the conversation also heavily discussed dignity, sovereignty, and the responsibilities of governance—anchored in a recognition of shared values. These moments—both quiet and historic—set a tone that defies cynicism. From the outset, this relationship held the potential to be more than pragmatic necessity. It was, and can still be, a compact grounded in mutual respect and the pursuit of national dignity.
At one point, Roosevelt offered the King one of his wheelchairs—a gesture both practical, and charmingly, American. The King accepted. More than diplomacy, it marked the quiet beginning of mutual understanding.
It was a contrast, stark and telling, to the King’s earlier meeting with Winston Churchill. The British Prime Minister, with imperial ease, had lit a cigar and sipped brandy in front of the abstinent monarch. He gifted a Rolls-Royce—with the steering wheel on the wrong side. Empire, it seemed, could not help but condescend. America, by contrast, offered something else: not dominance, but deference. It arrived not as a colonial power, but as a proposition unburdened by the baggage of imperial rule, offering pragmatism over pretense, partnership over patronage. Abdulaziz recognized the distinction—and made his choice.
Core, Not Periphery
That proposition—flawed, flexible, but enduring—has bent beneath the weight of many crises. The oil embargo of 1973. The trauma of 9/11. The war in Iraq. The grinding stalemate in Yemen. Through it all, public perception has oscillated: ally or accomplice? Partner or problem?
American politicians, from Trump to Biden, have often wielded Saudi Arabia as rhetorical fodder on the campaign trail—only to pivot, once elected, to the steady pragmatism the relationship demands. Riyadh, for its part, maintains a more consistent posture. It deals with the office, not the occupant. The latter often appears more bipartisan in its dealings with Washington than America itself.
When Washington issues moral critiques, Riyadh often responds by highlighting U.S. contradictions—Abu Ghraib, drone strikes, regime-change missteps. This cycle of moral scorekeeping is wearying but revealing: like family, the relationship absorbs its tensions through something more enduring than convenience.
Still, it may be time to move past this loop. Foreign policy is not a moral stage alone, and morality in statecraft is not measured by rhetoric, but by results. And by that measure, the Saudi-U.S. relationship—complex, but resilient—remains rich with potential.
For all the friction, the partnership endures not out of convenience, but because it serves something greater—the pursuit of prosperity, security, and a stable future for both nations.
This is not about turning a blind eye to past mistakes—on either side—but about learning from them. It reflects an aspiration: to become better versions of ourselves, and to trust in a relationship grounded not only in strategy, but in the enduring value of national dignity and human purpose.
Today’s Saudi Arabia is Different
Today’s Saudi Arabia is not merely a strategic partner; it is a society in the midst of generational change. Under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a new vision has taken root—one shaped not by tradition alone, but by ambition. It is driven by a young population hungry for opportunity, restless for innovation, and deeply aware of the challenges ahead.
The ethos that sparked the Saudi-US relations can be felt in the Saudi-U.S. investment Forum. The May summit culminated in a landmark $600 billion investment agreement between the United States and Saudi Arabia. Significant commitments were made in artificial intelligence, with U.S. tech giants like Nvidia and AMD partnering with Saudi Arabia's new AI firm, Humain, to supply advanced chips and develop AI infrastructure. Nvidia plans to deliver 18,000 of its latest AI chips, while AMD has committed up to $10 billion to establish 500 megawatts of AI computing capacity .
Additionally, Saudi firm DataVolt announced a $20 billion investment in U.S. AI data centers and energy infrastructure. The package also includes substantial investments in infrastructure projects within Saudi Arabia, such as the development of King Salman International Airport and Qiddiya City, with U.S. firms like Hill International and AECOM contributing to these initiatives.
It is in this spirit that the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum took place: not as a transactional moment, but as a reflection of a deeper alignment between two nations that still believe, at their core, that prosperity is a worthy—and shared—goal.
a structural, not situational, relationship
Yet for all its resilience, challenges remain—and more are surely on the way. The Saudi-U.S. relationship is underpinned by a dense web of interdependence that transcends any single administration or summit.
Energy markets remain deeply intertwined, with Saudi Arabia playing a role not merely as a supplier, but as a stabilizer of global oil prices—an influence that continues to ripple through the American economy despite the United States’ strides toward energy self-sufficiency.
More structurally, the relationship is cemented by formidable financial linkages. As of 2024, Saudi Arabia’s foreign reserves hovered around $467.5 billion, with $139.2 billion held in U.S. Treasury securities, positioning the Kingdom among the top foreign holders of American debt.
The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Kingdom’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, expanded its U.S. holdings by 40 percent in just one year, growing from $81.3 billion in 2022 to $113.7 billion by 2023—a testament to Riyadh’s continued reliance on American capital markets for liquidity and growth.
Despite tentative diversification into Asia and Europe, the United States remains Saudi Arabia’s largest non-regional investment destination, with over 35 percent of the Kingdom’s total investment securities denominated in dollars, anchoring the petrodollar system as both a backbone of global liquidity and a pillar of Riyadh’s monetary strategy.
But this is not a one-way dependency. For the United States, Saudi Arabia’s deep financial integration serves as both stabilizer and amplifier. Saudi holdings—including $131.6 billion in U.S. Treasury securities, making it the 17th largest holder—support demand for U.S. debt, keeping borrowing costs lower and fortifying the dollar’s status as the world’s reserve currency. The continuous recycling of oil revenues into dollar-denominated assets reinforces American global financial influence, while Saudi investments in U.S. equities, technology, and infrastructure weave a tighter economic interdependence that translates into systemic leverage.
A relationship in an uncertain strategic environment
Beneath the shifting rhetoric of diplomacy, this mutual reliance endures—not out of sentiment, nor out of ideological affinity, but because it remains, in every meaningful sense, irreplaceable.
It is neither a relic of Cold War pragmatism nor a transactional relic of oil politics; it is a structural reality, embedded in the very architecture of the global order.
The Middle East remains a theater of unresolved tensions—Gaza’s humanitarian crisis persists, Syria’s territorial coherence is but a diplomatic fiction, and regional rivalries simmer beneath thin layers of ceasefires and summitry.
Globally, the old certainties are unraveling. American unipolar dominance gives way to a multipolar path, with China asserting itself across continents, Russia recalibrating its ambitions, and Europe wavering in its strategic cohesion. Technological disruption, energy transitions, and fragile supply chains amplify the sense of drift.
A Noble Possibility in an Unsteady World
In this landscape of fragmentation, the Saudi-U.S. relationship is not merely a hedge against chaos.
Rather, it represents something subtler yet more profound: a shared conviction that governance finds its highest purpose in its capacity to deliver prosperity to its people. It should not be cold transnationalism that sustains this partnership, but the quietly shared ethos—that amidst uncertainty, the pursuit of economic flourishing is itself a noble form of statecraft.
This is not idealism in the abstract. It is idealism made practical, forged through decades of cooperation where mutual interest aligns with the moral imperative of provision. In a world increasingly untethered from grand ideological battles, this commitment to tangible human betterment—however uneven, however pragmatic—remains one of the few constants worthy of the term "noble.”
At its best, the relationship should embody a deeper responsibility: intergenerational justice. The decisions made today—on energy, trade, security, climate, and technology—will shape the opportunities and challenges faced by future generations of Saudis and Americans alike.
Just as King Abdulaziz sought to secure water for his people’s future, today’s leaders face a similar imperative. To govern well is to think beyond election cycles and headlines; it is to safeguard the prosperity, dignity, and stability of those who will inherit the consequences of today’s choices.
In this sense, the Saudi-U.S. partnership, when guided by foresight and respect, is not simply a geopolitical arrangement—it is an act of stewardship.
