(Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday said he will demand Saudi Arabia and OPEC bring down the cost of oil and will ask Riyadh to increase a planned U.S. investment package to $1 trillion from an initial reported $600 billion.
His remarks come one day after Trump and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman discussed what the White House called the kingdom’s “international economic ambitions” as well as trade issues.
Earlier on Thursday, the Saudi State news agency said the kingdom wants to put $600 billion into expanded investment and trade with the U.S. over the next four years.
“But I’ll be asking the Crown Prince, who’s a fantastic guy, to round it out to around $1 trillion,” Trump told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “I think they’ll do that because we’ve been very good to them.”
He also called on the Gulf nation to cut oil prices, saying that could help end Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“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,” Trump said, speaking remotely by video link.
“They should have done it long ago. They’re very responsible, actually, to a certain extent, for what’s taking place,” Trump added.
The Saudi government communications office did not immediately return a request for comment on Trump’s remarks at the forum.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren, ismail Shakil and Yousef Saba; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)
