RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — President Trump arrived Tuesday for the first leg of his Middle East tour in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, where he was welcomed with a pomp-and-circumstance-filled ceremony and a high-powered lunch with top business leaders and government figures before giving a speech at an investment forum.

President Trump announced the change in US policy during his speech at a Saudi investment forum, kicking off the first major international trip of his second term.

The United States agreed on Tuesday to sell Saudi Arabia an arms package worth nearly $142 billion, according to a White House fact sheet that called it "the largest defense cooperation agreement" Washington has ever done.

The Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region’s capital markets kicked off 2025 with a strong performance, recording 14 initial public offerings (IPOs) that raised $2.4 billion in Q1, a 106 per cent increase in proceeds compared to Q1 2024.

Donald Trump has met with dozens of officials in Saudi Arabia, as part of his first major diplomatic international visit of his second term as US president. A timelapse shows a huge queue of people waiting to shake hands with the president.

Saudi Arabia has held off formally joining the BRICS bloc of nations despite attending a meeting in Brazil last week, two sources said, finessing an issue that could upset Washington as Riyadh seeks to seal deals with its U.

President Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia marks a significant shift in U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.