Trump tour begins with $110 billion Saudi arms deal

Riyadh: The White House announced a huge arms deal with Saudi Arabia on Saturday as President Donald Trump took his first steps on the world stage, looking to leave mounting troubles behind at home.

The $110 billion deal for Saudi purchases of US defence equipment and services came at the start of an eight-day foreign tour that will also take Trump to Jerusalem, the Vatican and meetings with leaders in Europe.

The US president was given a warm welcome in the oil-rich kingdom -- a mood in sharp contrast to Washington where pressure is building after fresh claims over his team’s alleged links to Moscow.

The President and First Lady Melania Trump were welcomed by Saudi King Salman as they disembarked at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh Saturday morning.

Trump and his wife, who dressed conservatively in black but did not cover her hair as Saudi women are required to do, walked side-by-side to the tarmac where they shook hands with the 81-year-old king.

The arms sale agreement was just one of a series of deals to be announced during the visit, with US conglomerate General Electric saying it had also signed agreements and memorandums of understanding worth $15 billion.

“This package of defence equipment and services support the long-term security of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region in the face of Iranian threats,” a White House official said in announcing the deal.

Trump held talks with Salman and was to meet the kingdom’s two powerful crown princes on Saturday, before giving a speech on Islam to leaders of Muslim countries on Sunday.

For Riyadh the visit is an opportunity to rebuild ties with a key ally, strained under Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama who Sunni Arab Gulf states suspected of a tilt towards Shiite regional rival Iran.

A more muted focus on human rights should also please Washington’s traditional Sunni Gulf allies, analysts say.

Shortly after arriving Trump took to Twitter to express his delight at being in the kingdom.

“Great to be in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Looking forward to the afternoon and evening ahead,” he wrote. Sunday’s speech to dozens of Muslim leaders has been touted as a major event — along the lines of a landmark address to the Islamic world given by Obama in Cairo in 2009.

The speech will be especially sensitive given tensions sparked by the US travel ban. 

In return he is expected to take a harder line on Iran, where it was announced Saturday that President Hassan Rouhani had won a resounding re-election victory as voters overwhelmingly backed his efforts to reach out to the world.

Before departing, Trump tweeted he would be “strongly protecting American interests” on his trip.

While most US presidents make their first foreign trip to neighbouring Canada or Mexico, 70-year-old Trump has opted instead for the Middle East and Europe.