Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and BlackRock’s Larry Fink were seen greeting and speaking with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Donald Trump on Tuesday as the latter kicked off his first major foreign visit of his new term.
Trump is embarking this week on a high-stakes tour of the Persian Gulf region, targeting business deals and strategic partnerships with three oil-rich nations: Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
The CEOs were seen lining up to talk with the two world leaders at the Saudi royal court in Riyadh ahead of a lunch hosted by the Saudi crown prince.
Other notable business figures attending the event include Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, IBM’s Arvind Krishna, Citicorp’s Jane Fraser, Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg, NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang and Palantir’s Alex Karp, according to media reports.
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Saudi Arabia has already pledged $600 billion in U.S. investments, spanning weapons purchases, technology transfers, artificial intelligence and the stock market. Trump has said he believes the Saudis may ultimately commit up to $1 trillion.
In addition to economic deals, Trump and bin Salman are expected to discuss a possible civil nuclear program and expanded defense cooperation. Such agreements were once linked to a potential Abraham Accords-style normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Trump on Tuesday will headline the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum alongside Saudi ministers, White House crypto czar David Sacks and other business leaders.
Several of those attending today’s lunch – such as Musk, Jassy, Fink and Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman – are listed as speakers for that event.
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“The Saudi-US Investment Forum is being held on the occasion of the state visit to Saudi Arabia of the 45th and 47th President of the United States, Mr. Donald J. Trump. The Forum, which will take place at the King Abdulaziz International Conference Center in Riyadh on 13th May, will bring together major Saudi and American investors to celebrate a partnership that has been nearly a century in the making,” it says on its website.
“The Saudi-US relationship has played a vital strategic role in the prosperity of both nations over the last eight decades since the first meeting between King Abdulaziz Ibn Saud and President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the USS Quincy in 1945,” the event’s website adds.
On Wednesday, Trump will attend a Gulf Cooperation Council meeting before flying to Qatar for talks with Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and a visit to the U.S. military’s Al Udeid Air Base.
Thursday’s final stop is Abu Dhabi, where Trump will meet UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
Fox News’ Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.
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