President Biden, wanting to rebuild ties with Saudi Arabia, plans on visiting Riyadh later this month, three administration officials told The Washington Post on Thursday.
Biden is expected to add Saudi Arabia to a travel itinerary that already includes stops in Israel, Germany, and Spain. His visit also will likely include a meeting with the country's crown prince and de facto leader, Mohammed bin Salman.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Saudi Arabia is an oil-rich country, and this turnaround is part of efforts by Biden to lower soaring gas prices in the United States, officials told the Post. They also shared that members of the administration were divided on whether the visit should include a forum with bin Salman. "A meeting with bin Salman was eventually seen as a necessary act of realpolitik to lower energy prices and inflation, despite a campaign promise to further isolate Riyadh," the Post's Tyler Pager and John Hudson write. "Whether this move will substantially lower the price of oil is far from clear."
-
What’s the best way to use your year-end bonus?the explainer Pay down debt, add it to an emergency fund or put it toward retirement
-
What are portable mortgages and how do they work?the explainer Homeowners can transfer their old rates to a new property in the UK and Canada. The Trump administration is considering making it possible in the US.
-
10 concert tours to see this winterThe Week Recommends Keep cozy this winter with a series of concerts from big-name artists
-
Memo signals Trump review of 233k refugeesSpeed Read The memo also ordered all green card applications for the refugees to be halted
-
Judge halts Trump’s DC Guard deploymentSpeed Read The Trump administration has ‘infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself,’ the judge ruled
-
Trump accuses Democrats of sedition meriting ‘death’Speed Read The president called for Democratic lawmakers to be arrested for urging the military to refuse illegal orders
-
‘The money to fix this problem already exists’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Court strikes down Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read The Texas congressional map ordered by Trump is likely an illegal racial gerrymander, the court ruled
-
Trump defends Saudi prince, shrugs off Khashoggi murderSpeed Read The president rebuked an ABC News reporter for asking Mohammed bin Salman about the death of a Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Consulate in 2018
-
Congress passes bill to force release of Epstein filesSpeed Read The Justice Department will release all files from its Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation
-
Trump says he will sell F-35 jets to Saudi ArabiaSpeed Read The president plans to make several deals with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week
