WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Monday he will sell F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia despite some concern within the administration that such a sale could lead to China gaining access to the U.S. technology behind the advanced weapon system.
The announcement came on the eve of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s highly anticipated Washington visit, his first to the United States in more than seven years.
“I will say that that we will be doing that,” Trump said when asked if he would sell the jets to Saudi Arabia. “We’ll be selling F-35s.”
The crown prince had been expected to arrive with a wish list that includes receiving formal assurances from Trump defining the scope of the U.S. military protection for the kingdom and an agreement to buy U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets, one of the world’s most advanced aircraft.
The Republican administration, however, has been wary about upsetting Israel’s qualitative military edge over its neighbors, especially at a time when Trump is depending on Israeli support for the success of his Gaza peace plan.
Another long-standing concern, which also derailed a potential similar sale to the United Arab Emirates, is that the F-35 technology could be stolen by or somehow transferred to China, which has close ties to both the UAE and Saudi Arabia, according to three administration officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations on the matter.
The Saudis and China last month held joint naval exercises hosted by the kingdom. And Beijing in 2023 helped mediate an agreement between the Saudi Arabia and Iran to reopen their embassies and exchange ambassadors amid ongoing tensions.
China surpassed the U.S. last year as Saudi Arabia's top trade partner, but the United States has remained Riyadh's favored nation for arms sales.
Bradley Bowman, senior director of the Center on Military and Political Power at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Congress could press the administration to detail what assurances Riyadh has given the White House about its relationship with China.
He added that the White House is likely to also face questions about plans to ensure Israel maintains its qualitative military edge.
The announcement by Trump comes at a moment in which he's trying to persuade Saudi Arabia and Israel to normalize relations.
He has talked up his push to extend his first-term Abraham Accords — the project that formalized commercial and diplomatic ties between Israel and a trio of Arab nations — as key to his plan for bringing long-term stability to the Middle East as the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza continues to hold.
“I hope that Saudi Arabia will be going into the Abraham Accords very shortly,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday as he made his way to Florida for the weekend.
Yet Trump’s optimism that a U.S.-brokered deal could come soon is tempered by more sober internal assessments.
The Saudis have made clear that a guaranteed path to a Palestinian state remains a condition for the kingdom signing onto the accords — something Israel vehemently opposes.
The U.N. Security Council on Monday approved a U.S. plan for Gaza that authorizes an international stabilization force to provide security in the devastated territory and envisions a possible future path to an independent Palestinian state.
Still, Saudi Arabia is unlikely to sign on to the accords anytime soon, but there is cautious optimism that an agreement can be sealed by the end of Trump’s second term, the officials said.
“Let’s hope that President Trump makes clear that the first F-35 will not be delivered until Saudi Arabia normalizes relations with Israel,” Bowman said. “Otherwise, the president will undercut his own leverage.”
The Trump administration formally notified Congress in November 2020 that it planned to sell 50 stealth F-35 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates as part of a broader arms deal worth $23 billion aimed at deterring potential threats from Iran, despite concerns raised by Israel.
The UAE announcement came shortly after Trump lost the 2020 election to Democratic Joe Biden and followed the signing of the Abraham Accords between and the UAE.
But Biden, soon after taking office in January 2021, put a hold on that sale.
Trump's move is likely to receive scrutiny from human rights activists as Prince Mohammed’s trip marks his first visit to Washington since 2018.
On that visit, the crown prince went on a three-week U.S. tour aimed at improving the perception of his nation in the eyes of Americans concerned by the kingdom’s conservative social mores, its unequal treatment of women and the ignominious fact that 15 of 19 hijackers that took part in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States were Saudi citizens.
The Saudis’ reputation was further eroded months after Prince Mohammed’s last Washington visit with the killing and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Turkey, an operation targeting a critic of the kingdom that U.S. intelligence agencies later determined Prince Mohammed likely directed. The crown prince has denied he was involved.
But seven years later, the dark clouds in the U.S.-Saudi relationship have been cleared away by Trump, who has tightened his embrace of the 40-year-old crown prince he views as an indispensable player in shaping the Middle East in the decades to come.
“They have been a great ally,” Trump said.
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AP Diplomatic writer Matthew Lee contributed reporting.
