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President Biden is scheduled to visit Saudi Arabia later this month, a notable departure from his vote as a presidential candidate to treat the country as an “outcast” state, according to three government officials who called for anonymity to share details of an unannounced trip. .
The president’s trip to Riyadh follows his administration’s broader efforts to establish ties with the oil-rich nation to reduce the price of gas in the United States, which has skyrocketed in recent months.
The stop in Saudi Arabia is expected to add to Biden’s overseas trip later this month, when he will travel to Israel, Germany and Spain, officials said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The US-Saudi relationship broke down after the 2018 assassination of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi and an open critic of the Saudi government. U.S. intelligence has concluded that Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince and de facto leader, ordered Khashoggi’s assassination.
“In fact, we were going to make them pay the price and make them the pariah they are,” Biden said of Saudi Arabia during a 2019 Democratic debate.
He added that there is “very little social redemptive value in the current government of Saudi Arabia.”
Biden’s trip is now likely to raise new doubts about the Biden administration’s promise to keep human rights at the center of its foreign policy, given Saudi Arabia’s history of abuse, especially against women. .
During his trip, the president is expected to meet with Mohammed, officials said, a face-to-face visit that is the culmination of half a dozen discreet visits to the Saudi kingdom over the past two years by his top adviser. Middle East. Brett McGurk and his special envoy for energy affairs, Amos Hochstein.
The two men traveled back to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates last week to discuss a number of issues, including a presidential visit and rising oil production amid rising oil prices. ‘energy and rising inflation that have hampered the president’s approval ratings,’ said a US official. official, who like others spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic details.
The decision on whether to grant a presidential visit to the Crown Prince divided members of the Biden administration, many of whom preferred to keep the oil-rich autocracy at bay after former President Donald Trump’s close relationship with the kingdom. , which infuriated human rights. lawyers.
But advocates of maintaining close ties with Riyadh finally won after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24th.
The impact of the conflict on oil and gas prices exacerbated the Biden administration’s concerns about its relationship with Saudi Arabia, which had repeatedly rejected US requests to increase oil production.
Finally, a meeting with Mohammed was seen as a necessary act of realpolitik to reduce energy prices and inflation, despite the campaign promise to further isolate Riyadh. It is unclear whether the measure will substantially reduce the price of oil.
OPEC + member countries announced on Thursday that the group would add 648,000 barrels a day in July and August, a modest acceleration of plans already underway to reverse pandemic-related reductions. The momentum of production came amid pressure from the White House for OPEC + to do more to fill the gap created by sanctions on Russia. But many energy analysts believe the decision has only a modest impact, and it is still unclear whether further production increases will occur during the summer.