Trump and Saudi Arabia: Missing a Generational Opportunity

Zach Dickens

Politics, Middle East

The United States once sided with a Middle Eastern monarch to reform a country. Can it do so again?

There is much to commend Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for, particularly his willingness to confront the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s entrenched interests that have long prevented its transition to an economically sustainable and more socially free country. From the Wahhabi-dominated religious establishment that has long hindered social reform in Saudi Arabia and helped lay the groundwork for Sunni extremism globally, to the wasteful economics of absolute oil dependency, Prince Mohammed’s willingness to confront these internal forces represents a unique departure from previous Saudi monarchs.

The future Saudi monarch’s commitment to the reforms in question compliment two major foreign policy goals of the United States: combating the spread of Sunni extremism in its war on terror, and ensuring that Saudi Arabia remains a stable ally in the Middle East for future generations. But Prince Mohammed’s brash nature also coincides with a destructive foreign policy and a penchant for autocratic purges of the opposition that increase the likelihood of derailing his economic and social agenda. The Trump administration should recognize that the viability of the Saudi-U.S. partnership requires an active interest in Prince Mohammed’s reform efforts, while using both political and economic pressure to dissuade him from the worst of his autocratic tendencies and foreign policy adventurism. A once-in-a-century chance of reforming Saudi Arabia could fall by the wayside if the Trump administration fails to rein in the hardheaded crown prince’s worst ambitions.