Joe Biden Reportedly Planning Saudi Arabia Trip to Mend Ties With Oil-Rich Kingdom

The White House on Thursday praised the oil-rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia – a country that Joe Biden as a presidential candidate once vowed to make a “pariah” - for its role in securing an OPEC+ pledge to pump more oil amid skyrocketing energy costs around the globe.

America’s strategic interests appear to have prevailed over rhetoric once wielded by Joe Biden, as the US president is mulling a visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this month to rebuild relations with the oil-rich kingdom, according to a report in The Washington Post.

In stark contrast with the campaign promises of then-presidential candidate Biden to make the kingdom “pay the price” for human rights abuses and “make them in fact the pariah that they are”, made in connection with the 2018 killing of Saudi writer Jamal Khashoggi, Joe Biden is expected to meet with the kingdom’s crown prince.

US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi - a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - was murdered in Saudi Arabia's Consulate in Istanbul, with Western media accusing the highest ranks of the Saudi government, right up to the crown prince, of being connected with the murder - allegations that have been vehemently denied by the Saudis.

However, at a time when Joe Biden is facing urgent calls to tackle soaring gas prices at home while wielding sanctions as a tool to isolate Russia abroad over its special military operation to demilitarise Ukraine, priorities appear to have been revised.

Tight oil supply has become a top political liability, and the visit, the timing of which is purportedly still being discussed, is to be added to a previously scheduled trip to Europe and Israel, according to cited administration officials.

‘Realpolitik’ Trumps ‘Moral Outrage’

During his stop in Riyadh, the president will purportedly meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as well as confer with other leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries – Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates – as well as Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan, according to cited White House insiders.

The mulled visit would allegedly come as part of Biden’s scheduled trip to Europe at the end of June. The POTUS is also likely visit Israel, which has led a strong push for US-Saudi rapprochement, according to The Washington Post.

“We believe that Saudi Arabia is an important actor in the region and beyond. We very much support closer relations between the United States and Saudi Arabia, in the context of stabilising the region, containing Iran, normalising relations with Israel and stabilising the energy market”, a senior Israeli official was cited as saying on Tuesday.

An important issue for Israel is Saudi Arabia’s reluctance to join the Abraham Accords, sealed under the auspices of then-President Donald Trump. They established diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. However, Saudi Arabia is yet to formally recognise the Jewish state. Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud, the Saudi foreign minister, recently stated at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland:

“We always envisioned that there will be full normalisation with Israel, and I’ve said before that a full normalisation between us and Israel, between the region and Israel, will bring immense benefits. We won’t be able to reap those benefits unless we address the issue of Palestine”.

As Joe Biden has been prompted to court other energy producers to replace oil from Moscow, other allies, such as France and the UK, have likewise reportedly urged Biden to rekindle ties with Riyadh. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron have both visited Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia, suggesting the US president do the same, The Post added.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday at an event marking the 100th anniversary of Foreign Affairs Magazine that Joe Biden’s intent coming into office was to “recalibrate the relationship with Saudi Arabia and to make sure that that relationship was serving our own interests as well as our values as we move forward – but also preserving it”.

The report on the planned trip by Biden comes as the group of oil-producing nations OPEC+, led by Saudi Arabia, announced on Thursday that it would increase production in July and August.

An enthusiastic White House praised Saudi Arabia for its role in securing the pledge to pump more oil, while Biden applauded the Saudis for agreeing to a ceasefire extension in the kingdom’s eight-year old war with Yemen.

“Saudi Arabia demonstrated courageous leadership by taking initiatives early on to endorse and implement terms of the UN-led truce”, the American president said after the 60-day extension of the ceasefire was announced.

Washington officials are likely hoping that Saudi Arabia’s moves might feed into efforts to bring down prices at the US pump before November’s congressional elections.

The Democratic president’s approval rating reached a new low earlier this month, fluctuating between 41% and 34%. While surveys indicate inflation is now the primary concern for US voters, gasoline prices hitting an average of $4.7 a gallon in the United States is also fuelling voter frustration. The pump prices are up 50% in a year and double what they were when Biden took office in January 2021.

However, some experts are sceptical about the impact of the vow by OPEC+ to ostensibly increase oil exports by 650,000 barrels per day over each of the next two months.

“… American people are looking at gas prices, not Yemen. The Saudis are unlikely to do anything significant on the price front, nor is it clear that they could do enough to really reduce prices. Biden appears likely to not deliver what voters want — low gas prices at the pump”, Bruce Riedel, a Brookings Institution scholar, was cited by The Post as saying.